The Mystery of the Blackweeds
by Allicloud
Summary: Who are these mysterious dinosaurs, draped in blackened grass and weeds, speaking sharptooth and leafeater? What do they want in the great Valley? And can their leader, Redback the Spinosaurus, really be trusted?
1. Chapter 1: A Chance Encounter

**Chapter 1: Prelude to the mystery**

Possibly the strangest part of the Mystery of the Blackweeds was the way it all began. Nothing to anticipate the turn of events. No signs, no premonitions. It all started like any other day in the Great Valley.

The sky was clear, the sky-puffies notably absent, the grass was green, the inhabitants, those proud, majestic creatures, the Dinosaurs, as blissfully unaware as always of the impending turn of events. The Flyers flew in the sky, the swimmers paddled playfully in the ponds, the Threehorns found more and more ways to argue with the Longnecks, and the children played blissfully and energetically, as always.

This morning in particular, Litlefoot and his friends had discovered a colossal melon at the base of a tree. How it came to be there was a mystery, since it was still hard and unripe. But they took the opportunity when they saw it, and soon a game of kicking the melon to eachother ensued.

"Over here Spike! To me!"

Spike obediently butted the melon with his forehead, towards Cera. She in turn, kicked it to Littlefoot. He skillfully manouevred the melon with his tail, in and out of the clumps of long grass. He would have made it towards the pair of trees serving as a goal, had he not been skilfully tackled from behind by Ruby.

"Heh, you have to be faster if you want to go faster than me!" she cried back as she turned the melon away from the goal, kicking it over to Chomper. And with a mighty boot, the melon was away from the goal and back into play!

The game went back and forth for hours, the playing field moving with them. Every time they scored a goal, they would allocate a new goal, farther away. The game was fully underway, and all were fully into it. So into it, in fact, that none seemed to notice how high up they had moved.

Until, that is, a well aimed push by Ducky sent the melon inbetween the two rocks which formed the goal, and down the other side of the mountain ridge. The very ridge that formed the wall betwen the Valley and what lay beyond.

"Oops..."

Littlefoot, Chomper and Cera peeked over the rocks to see where the melon had gone. The trees were too dense to see for sure.

"Great!" the young Threehorn muttered, "That was our last good fruitball, and now we've lost it!"

"I am sorry, I am, I am!" Ducky cried, "But I did not realise we were up so high."

"She right! Even me not notice, and me could see everything from up high" Petried added, hovering a few meters off the ground. A sudden gust of wind picked up, and he quickly returned to the ground.

"You only ever notice something like that when you see it. And I didn't see it at all." Ruby piped in.

"So now what do we do?" Chomper asked, sitting on a nearby rock.

Littlefoot paced back and forth a few times, trying to come up with some idea of where they could get a new fruitball. Most of the other ones on the ground were too squishy to play with, and the ones in the tree would be hard to get down.

"Why don't we just go get it back?"

Petrie looked at Cera as if she had just suggested murder. "Go down there? Into Mysterious Beyond? No way, too dangerous!"

But Cera was adamant "Look, it's not that far down, and since it's a valley, the fruit probably rolled really close to the wall anyway. We could go down there and get it back before anyone knows we're gone!"

The gang looked to Littlefoot. He looked back into the valley, and saw that most of the grownups were over by the Thundering falls, well away. Turning back to his friends, he nodded reluctantly.

"Alright, but who goes? We need to think this through."

Within a few minutes, it was decided. Ducky and Cera would keep a lookout in case the grownups approached, from atop the ridge. Littlefoot and Spike would wait halfway down the slope, ready to help if anything went awry. Petrie would fly above them all, keeping a lookout for where the fruitball may have gone, as well as whether any sharpteeth were around.

Chomper and Ruby, having once been residents of the Beyond themselves, were given the task of actually going into the Beyond to retrieve the fruit. The other leaf-eaters would look a bit conspicuous, but Chomper was a Sharptooth himself, and Ruby a Fast-Biter, so if they encountered any creatures, they might be able to talk their way out of it.

And so they went to work, scouring the rocky canyons and wastes just by the Great Wall, all the while keeping an eye out for any movement.

"Chomper, I'll look this way. You try over by the wall."

Chomper nodded, sniffing for any scent of the aromatic fruit. Suddenly, he stopped stock still. He knew that smell for sure; The fruitball was so close! He ran in the direction of the smell, which got stronger and stronger with every step. He rounded a corner, the smell was so strong he felt like he'd be sick!  
>Turning another corner, and there it was! Perched among a crop of boulders, just atop the shortest one, the fruitball rested, pierced slightly by a spike of rock.<p>

Grinning with satisfaction, he looked up. There was Petrie, a tiny speck in the sky, flying steadily, which could only mean that there was no trouble abound. As he turned his head back to the ground, he noticed another, larger flyer in the sky. It flew slowly, gliding on an air current, not too far from Petrie, not really moving anywhere. However, Petrie did not seem to react, so it couldn't be a problem.  
>Shrugging, he scampered up towards the rocks where the fruitball lay. His feet trampled the shale and slate underfoot, causing him to slip momentarily. But he regained his balance and continued on. Looking for a better footing, he moved towards a flat piece of stone, larger than the others, and placed a foot on it. It wobbled a bit, then was still. he placed another foot on it.<br>The stone held his weight for only a moment, before it gave under him, burying him in slate and gravel.

Chomper screamed for help, but only recieved a mouthful of grit in reply. Spitting it out, his eyesight became blurred. Looking skyward, he saw Petrie suddenly stop in the sky and flutter about in a panic. Obviously he had seen it, Chomper thought to himself. However, his relief turned to exhaustion as he felt the weight of the rock crushing the air from his lungs.

He noted two things before he blacked out. One, that Petrie finally seemed to notice the other flyer in the sky, as the larger of the two suddenly turned and flew towards the rest of the Mysterious Beyond. The second thing was that as well as the darkness of the rocks, he could see the sillhouette of strange figures, peering in through the gap in the rocks. Their eyes stood out in the darkness, one pair were red, one pair yellow, and the third pair a dark brownish-grey.

That was all he noted, before he blacked out.

A great cloud of dust arose from the ridge as Littlefoot and Spike scrambled to the top of the ridge. As their forepaws finally reached the top of the ridge, they were relieved to see Ducky and Cera rush to meet him.

"Littlefoot! What's going on?" Cera asked, as she helped pull him atop the ridge. He tried his best to relate what Petrie had told him, but he was so out of breath, all he could manage was a hoarse "...Chomper!" before h collapsed, completely winded, along the equally exhausted Spike.

Ducky turned to Cera, a look of worry on her face "What do you think happened?"

Luckily, Petrie swooped down from the sky to land beside them "It Chomper! He in big trouble!"

Cera peered out across the Beyond "Where? What happened?"

"He look for fruitball near big pile of rocks, when it fall! Right ontop of him!"

Ducky gasped "Oh, no no no! That is not good!"

"What about Ruby?"

As if on cue, Ruby's head peeked over the top of the ridge "Here I am! Petrie told me the news before he went to tell you the news!"

"We gotta get him back! C'mon!" Cera shouted, as she headed won the ridge herself. She would have gotten all the way, had Ducky and Ruby not accosted her half way.

"But Cera, Chomper is in the Mysterious Beyond! It is dangerous!" Ducky reasoned, as Ruby tried to hold Cera back

"And that's why we have to help him!" Came Littlefoot's voice from atop the ridge. He and Spike slid down the ridge to where the others were waiting, now fully recovered. "We can't leave Chomper out there alone! What if he runs into another Sharptooth, like Redclaw or something?"

Spike nodded, stomping his way past the others and down the slope. Ducky trusted her brother's instincts, they had steered them well before, and followed. Behind her, Littlefoot, Cera and Ruby hurried, with Petrie flying above.

"Me show you where it happened! But we gotta be quick before grownups find out we gone!"

Littlefoot inwardly agreed, and quickened his pace. As they reached the opening to the twisted rocky gorges and wastes of the Beyond, he kept a sharp eye out for any movement, ready to point it out, be it Chomper, or something less friendly.  
>He gazed up to the sky, where he could see Petrie soaring a few meters above their head, leading the way.<p>

Within minutes, they had found the clearing, with the ledge, where the melon lay crushed by a boulder bigger than Spike. The landslide had been a big one, and Ruby wasted no time in digging away at the rock and shale that buried her friend.

Ducky and Cera were quickly at her side, the former pushing as much of the gravel as she could away, the latter pushing as many of the bigger rocks as she could down the hill. Spike joined the effort, working alongside Cera, and Littlefoot did his best to clear the rubble from the base, all the while calling out to Chomper

"Chomper! Chomper ,can you hear me? Say something if you can!"

"Oh, this is my fault!" Ruby moaned as she stubbed a finger on a particularly stubborn rock "He'd never have been trapped on his own if I was there with him!"

"Don't...Blame...Yourself..." Cera grunted between pushes, as she and Spike sent another boulder rolling to Littlefoot, who cleared it to the side "If you had been wit him, you would just be trapped too!"

"But at least then Chomper would not be alone." Ducky piped up, as she scrabbled away at a makeshift tunnel through the dirt and gravel.

Petrie watched from above, as his friends worked diligently away, knowing that any hesitation would spell instant doom for poor Chomper. Strange, Petrie thought to himself. he was certain that this was the pile of rocks that had buried him, and it didn't exactly fall right ontop of him, so he couldn't be that deep in the rock. Yet no matter how much they dug, no matter how much they reduced the heap, no sign of Chomper came up.  
>However, his musings were cut short as he saw a shadow coming round the bend towards the clearing. He cried out in shock and hurried towards the ground to warn the others.<p>

"AAGH! Sharpteeth coming! Hurry!" he screamed as he swooped overhead, keeping his eye on the silhouetted mass coming ever nearer.

Littlefoot halted or a moment as he heard Petrie's cry, then doubling his efforts at digging. He cried out in pain as his foot hit something far more solid than a boulder. He had dug straight through the pile of rocks, right to the foot of the cliff, and still no sign of Chomper.

"Guys! Chomper's not in here!" he shouted to the others, as he looked back to the shadowy form appearing round the bend. He lowered his head as Ducky climbed onto his back, and after looking back to check the others were on their way, he hurried towards the way they came, back to the Valley.

Inside, Littlefoot was seething with anger at himself. Here he was, fleeing from danger, when one of his friends might be in even greater danger! He just hoped Chomper would be able to forgive him.

His musings were, however, cut short as he was met with a wall of rock. He had taken a wrong turn! Worse still, he had led his friends the wrong way as well!

"Oh no,no, no!" came the terrified squeak from Ducky, on his back. They looked frantically for another way, even attempting to scrabble up the wall. But it was no use, as he slid down to earth.  
>Cera and Spike came cannoning round the bend into him and Ducky, and they collapsed into a heap at the base of the sheer cliff that lay before them, followed close behind by Ruby and Petrie.<p>

"Ohh, we trapped!" Petrie groaned as he covered his eyes and buried his face in Spike's back.

The young dinosaurs huddled together in fear, their eyes closed, as the menacing sound approached. Ruby hazarded a peek, and saw that it was more than one figure. She could discern a group of several dinosaurs, of varying size, both bipedal and quadruped. Strange, she thought, that a group of Sharpteeth could be so varied. Or maybe they had just attracted all the solitary Sharpteeth from around. But it mattered little. They were trapped, they had no idea where Chomper was, and the group of creatures were getting closer every second. She closed her eyes, only hearing the sound of their stomping feet.

Then the stomping stopped. She felt the warmth of a paw touching her back, and heard a voice.

"Okay, you can relax now."

She slowly looked up, and found herself staring into a pair of big, red, bloodshot eyes.

Ruby moved like an animal scalded, she was so quick. The minute her eyes met those huge, red eyes she scuttled back over the top of the heap of young dinosaurs, straight to the back. Peeking over the top, she ducked under again as she almost met those eyes again, and saw the creature tey were attached to. Poking Littlefoot lightly, she motioned over the top of Spike's back. He nodded and slowly, ever so slowly, moved his head up and over, until he had full view of the figures standing before them.

Littlefoot instantly felt a quiver of fear. From their size, he could tell hey were only a few cold-times older than them, but that did not make them any less creepy looking. Looming at the back, he saw a strange sort of belly-dragger, but with a face almost similar to a regular sharptooth, and a line of spkes running from his head, right down to his tail. Sitting atop this green and brown creature was a fast-biter, but alot more spindly and slender than Screech and Thud's kind of fast-biter, a light shade of green, with a yellow chest and red back. From it's eyes and general build, Littlefoot could tell it was a girl. Another figure loomed behind them, tall and thin, but it was cast in such shadow, he was usure what gender or even kind of creature it was.

But it was the creature at the front who frightened him the most, whose eyes had spooked Ruby so much. Clearly into its teenage years, it resembled a young version of the sharptooth he and his friends encountered when they followed Guido as he sleep-walked into the Mysterious Beyond, with the long snout and massive sail on its back. He had predominantly red skin, with black spikes of colour around the base of the yellow sail, and an orange underbelly. But what topped off their intimidating appearance was the strange black grass that was draped liberally over every one of them.

Littlefoot gulped and closed his eyes. Surrounded by three, maybe four sharpteeth. There was no way out of this one...

"Oh get up, will ya? We ain't gonna eat you!"

He opened his eyes. Who said that? It was too deep to be any of his friends. He looked around, in case some unseen help had arrived, but there was nobody around, except for the sharpteeth before him and his friends, quivering underneath him. Looking up to the sailbacked sharptooth, he felt unease at its grin, especially at the one huge tooth it had on either side of its mouth. But who else could it be?

"W...Was that y-you, who..spoke?" he stammered, feeling both terrified and stupid for asking such a question.

"Well, who else could it've been, the rocks?" The sailback replied. The belly-dragger and fast-biter behind him chuckled.

Littlefoot was gobsmacked. Apart from Chomper, sharpteeth couldn't speak the language of the Leaf-Eaters. Still stunned, he moved to the side, allowing his friends to get back up. If their lack of shaking was anything to go by, they were just as stunned.

The sailback's grin widened, revealing more massive teeth "Well, would ya look at this, eh guys? They dunno what to think."

The fast biter hopped down to the ground and skittered closer to Littlefoot. He was surprised at how small she was, only about a head taller than Ducky. She looked up at Littlefoot, and giggled

"Hee hee, I suppose yer wondering why we can talk like you, huh?"

Littlefoot nodded dumbly.

"Well, we owe it all to Tero here. Say hi, Tero!" She called back to the group.

The mysterious figure at the back moved out of the shadow, and all the gang were amazed to see it was a flyer, the same kind as Petrie, only older. He had dark brown skin, with a pale orange belly, and green eyes. The blankest, coldest eyes Littlefoot had ever seen. He nodded silently in acknowledgement, but said nothing.

The sailback turned back to Littlefoot and moved closer to him. He spoke with a odd elegance that contrasted massivly with the slight rasp in his voice."Yeah, he doesn't talk. But he used to! And he taught us how to speak after he joined us."

Ducky's voice rang out from behind Littlefoot "B-but, he is not a sharptooth like you. He is a flyer, like Petrie."

Petrie waved timidly to Tero, who didn't even look at him.

"Petrie, huh? Funny name." The sailback snorted. He turned to Littlefoot "And what's yer name, kid?"

"Erm...I'm Littlefoot." he replied, "A-and these are my friends. Cera, Petrie, Ducky, Spike, Ruby and... Well, there is one more of us, but we don't know what happened to him..."

"I'm here, Littlefoot!"

He looked up and was amazed to see, perched on the tail of the sailbacked sharptooth, Chomper!

"This little guy with you?"

Chomper hopped down and ran back to Ruby's side. She threw her arms around him and pulled him into a hug.  
>"Chomper! What happened?" she asked, slightly teary-eyed with relief.<br>Chomper grinned "I'm not sure. After I passed out in the pile of rocks, I woke up and I was by this weird swamp, filled with this black grass... Like the stuff you guys have!"  
>He pointed to the tendrils of grass hanging from the strangers. The sailback spoke up again "Yeah, we were the ones who got him outta that pile of rocks. Not right to leave a fellow sharptooth buried like that, is it?"<p>

Chomper nodded, "So, when they came back, I asked them if they had seen my friends. They said they had heard someone moving around nearby, and took me with them to check it out. And then we found you!"

The belly-dragger stepped forwards "Bit of a weird group! What are sharpteeth like you doing hanging around with a bunch of grass-guzzlers?"

Cera growled quietly, pawing the earth as if preparing to charge, but the Sailback beat her to it as he promptly bonked the belly-dragger on the head with a claw "Now now, Rheddo. Mind yer manners around guests!"

He turned back to Littlefoot and bowed his head "My apologies...Littlefoot, was it? His manners have never been amazing. But anywho, my name is Redback."

He outstretched an arm to Littlefoot, who recoiled slightly.

"It's alright, I understand. Why trust a sharptooth, right?" Redback said, chuckling to himself. Littlefoot shuddered a little. The laugh was a little unnerving.  
>"I-it's just... how can you guys..talk?" Littlefoot asked nervously.<br>"Kinda a long story, that." The fast-biter piped up. "Why don't we find somewhere a bit less open? Y'never know what might be out and about round here."  
>"Where'd you lot come from, anyway?" Redback asked, leaning closer down to the huddled group of dinosaurs.<br>"We came from the Great Valley," Ducky said, stepping forwards." Where do you live?"

"Nowhere and everywhere, little lady. We live where we like and we like where we live. When we don't, we go somewhere else... Oh, by the way, lemme introduce the gang." Redback added, "That big fella is Rheddo."  
>The belly dragger nodded and grinned a toothy grin, his black-grass adornment rustling as he moved.<br>"This pretty li'l lady down here is Celya." He continued, pointing to the minute fast-biter, who snapped at his outstretched claw

"Red! I told you not to talk about me like that!"

The sharptooth just grinned back. "And that tall flyer guy in the back is Tero. Don't be offended if he doesn't talk to you, he doesn't talk to anyone."  
>Tero sniffed and looked wistfully skywards.<br>Redback continued his introductions "Poor fool lost his voice to another fast-biter, just days after he finished teaching us lot to talk. Same with his leg too. Never been the same since."  
>Littlefoot looked down at Tero's legs, and noticed that one was gruesomely scarred and twisted, giving the flyer a strange stance and an awkward walk.<br>"Gee... Did you help him get away?"

Redback's grin widened even further, revealing masses more teeth "Not exactly. But we did...ahem, deal with the fast-biter. Look, it's a long story, maybe some other time? Like Celya said, we should get into cover."

Littlefoot thought about this for a moment, but was interrupted by Ruby's hand tapping his shoulder.

"Littlefoot, I think that whatever we do, we better do something to get closer to home." She said nervously, as she looked around.

"Hey, I know, we could hide in the caves! We can get to them from outside the Valley, and nobody would know they were there!"

The others nodded at Littlefoot's idea, though Cera was notably hesitant. She was busy eyeing the strange dinosaurs up and down suspiciously.

"'Tis settled then! Lead on, Littlefoot!" Redback quipped, as he followed at his side.

The combined group of the Great Valley residents and the strange outsiders set off, mingling slightly, but mostly keeping to their own friends. Ducky, Petrie and Spike huddled together, flanked by Celya who strutted nimbly at Spike's right eye-level, and Tero, who silently limped at his left.  
>Rheddo and Celya walked alongside eachother, each looking straight at the other, watching.<br>Redback walked at the front, at Littlefoot's side. Littlefoot's snout twitched every time one of the black tendrils hanging from Redback's neck and arms brushed over his head.

"Hey, R-redback?" Littlefoot stammered "Why do you have those...things hanging all over you?"  
>Redback held up an arm, looking at the strands of grass, either tied tightly or hanging loosely over his limb. He turned his head to face Littlefoot's, his eyes meeting the longneck's.<p>

"Cos that's who we are. We're the Blackweed Brotherhood."

Littlefoot looked away, as he turned the mysterious phrase over in his mind.

The Blackweed Brotherhood.


	2. Chapter 2: The Game is On

**Chapter Two**

Redback looked up towards the sky, as he heard a distant rumble. With a grim nod he nudged Littlefoot.

"We better hurry up a bit. Looks like the skywater is on its way. You don't want to be caught in the sky-water out here."

Littlefoot nodded, but ased "Really? Why? Is there more skywater out here?"

"No, not really." Redback replied " But sometimes out here the skywater stings. Usually seems to happen when the Smoking Mountains go off."

Littlefoot turned his head towads the Smoking Mountains. He noticed with unnerve a pillar of smoke emanating from the peak. Pickng up his pace to a trot, he turned the bend and there was the cave. He felt the steady thud of Redback's jogging, and hard the panting of the rest of the gang, running behind them.

He made it to the cave, just as he felt a drop fo skywater hit the tip of his tail. He gasped as he felt a stinging pain, like the bite of a ground-crawler, and shouted back to the others  
>"Hurry! Skywater's starting to fall, and it hurts!"<p>

He swiftly moved to the side as Cera and Rheddo barged through, followed by Spike, Tero, Ducky and Petrie. Bringing up the rear were Ruby, Chomper and Redback, who filled the entrance.

It was thankfully a spacious cave, that broke off into a series of tunnels. The small crowd spread out a bit, sitting or lying down on the rocky ledges and boulders that littered the cave.

"I have never seen stinging skywater before, no no no!" Ducky said, as she rubbed her legs and arms where the skywater had struck. It did not seem to leave any mark, but it still stung.

"Redback told me it was something to do with the Smoking Mountains, right?" Littlefoot asked, calling to the large Sharptooth.

Redback looked up from inspecting his sail for any marks from the water "Sure have. You get it out in the Beyond alot. I'm not sure why it happens, but it's something to do with the smoke from the mountains."

"We think that something in the smoke makes the water change, and become all sharp like that." Celya added "But frankly, it's still a bit of a mystery."

Petrie was suddenly struck by a worrying thought "What about families in the Great Valley? What if they get stinging skywater too?"

"Don't worry about it." Redback replied "The stinging skywater only happens where the smoke from the Smoking Mountains goes. And the smoke only ever goes away from the Valley."

Littlfoot sighed with relief. "That's good to know."

The group sat in silence for a while. Cera, Spike, Ducky and Petrie huddled together, still suspicious of these mysterious Blackweed dinosaurs. But most uneasy of all was Petrie. He noted that throughout the whole time they were in the cave, Tero had not taken his eyes off him for a second. Those blank, green eyes just stared straight at him. He shuddered momentarly and moved to the other side of Spike, where Tero couldn't see him.

"Regular weirdo, that Tero." Came Rheddo's voice as he approached the group. Lying down beside them, he turned to face Petrie.

"He gettin' to ya?"

Petrie nodded "Why...Why he stare like that?"

"Who knows?" Redback shrugged "He's a mystery, aren't ya Tero?"

Tero glared straigh back at Rheddo, who simply chuckled. "Funny, cos when we first met him, he was normal."

"How did you meet him?" Chomper asked as he and Ruby joined the huddled group.

Redback smiled, and related the story.

"Well, a long, long time ago, Tero was just another flyer living it rough out in the Beyond. He wasn't a Brother back then. Y'see, one day, me, Celya and Redback were in the middle of a fight with some other fast-biters. Must have been hundreds of them!"

The young dinosaurs sat in awed silence as they heard the story. Celya loomed out of the darkness to continue the story "Oh, at the very least! But long story short, there were lots! Well, there we were, holding our own against the oncoming swarm, when Tero suddenly appeared at the top of a nearby mountain. He started pushing whole boulders down at the fast-biters. Squish! Crunch! Splat!"

"Soon, through our combined strength, we sent those scuttling creeps running!" Rheddo continued "In return for helping us, we let Tero join the Brotherhood. Of course, back then none of us could even talk leaf-eater language! But he started teaching us to talk, and soon enough, we could understand every word he said!"

"A bit of a shame then," Celya concluded "That just a few days after he taught us to speak, he himself lost his voice."

"He lost his voice? How?" Ruby asked.

"Well, turns out one of those fast-biters had held some sort of grudge against us. He'd tracked us down and ambushed us! Old Tero got hit pretty bad, and that's what messed up his leg. We all managed to finish that fast-biter off, but after that, something changed in him. He went mute and cold, and he's never been the same since."

He looked to where Tero was leaning against the wall, watching, but apparently not caring tat they were talking about him. He sniffed and moved to a darker, more secluded part of the cave.

Meanwhile, Littlefoot worked up the courage to ask the strange sharptooth, Redback, about his friends.

"Erm...Redback?" He said, approaching the rock that the sailback sat upon.

He turned his head to face Littlefoot "Yeah?"

Littlefoot stood beside him, stll nervous about going too near him. "What exactly...is the Blackweed Brotherhood? Who are you?"

Redback grinned that gigantic grin of his once more. Shifting round a bit, he spoke in a low voice, dripping with pride.

"Ah, curious are we? Well, the Blackweeds have been around for ages, roaming the Mysterious Beyond, striking fear into all who come near."

"You mean, other sharpteeth are scared of you?" Littlefoot asked in awe.

"Oh yes. And they're right to be." He replied, as he stood up tall.

"Why?"

Redback did not reply instantly, but instead nodded silently to Tero. The silent flyer rolled his eyes and sighed quietly. Standing up, he began beating his hands on the rock wall and tapping his feet in rhythm. Redback strode throught the cave, joined by his Brothers, as he sang:

_"Legend tells of creatures from so far away  
>Creatures born of fire and wind, that's what they say.<br>They hold the secrets of the farthest, oldest lands  
>They are the keepers of the mystery in their hands."<em>

_**Blaaackweeeeeds!**_  
><em>Feared by creatures, small and strong<em>  
><em><strong>Broootherhoooood!<strong>_  
><em>Those who don't fear us are wrong!<em>  
><em><strong>Blaaaaackweeeeds!<strong>_  
><em>Where we come from, no one knows.<em>  
><em><strong>Brooootherhoooood!<strong>_  
><em>Where we go to no one says!<em>

_"Rheddo walks the plains, and sharpteeth flee in fright!"_  
><em>"Celya's run as fast as wind, and silent as the night!"<em> Rheddo sang in reply.  
>Celya added <em>"Redback's mighty claws have cut through solid stone!"<em>  
><em>"And Tero's origin's a mystery in it's own!"<em>

_**"Blaaackweeeeeds!"**_

_"Sounds quite dangerous to me."_ Commented Ducky.

_**"Broootherhoooood!"**_

_"It's lots of fun as well, you'll see"_ Came Celya's response.

_**"Blaaaaackweeeeds!"**_

Cera snorted; _"You don't look that brave or strong"_

_**"Brooootherhoooood!**_

_"Well, we soon will prove you wrong." _sang Rheddo.

Chomper was enthralled by this mysterious gang "What's the biggest sharptooth you've ever met?"

"We once saw one that towered clear above the mountains, black as the night, spewing blue-coloured fire from it's mouth!" Said Rheddo, rearing on his hind legs in imitation.

Ducky gasped "What did you do? Huh?"

Redback grinned "Well, he might have been able to beat us if we were on our own, but he had to face us together!"

A cheer rose from the Brotherhood as the song resumed.

_"Few will dare to even look or glance our way,  
>Our reputation goes before us, day by day."<em>

Littlefoot joined in the song _"No one in our valley knows the Blackweed name..."_

_"Yes for now, but soon they'll know it, just the same."_

_**"The Blaaackweeeeeds!**_  
>Hear our chant and know our tale.<br>_**Broootherhoooood!**_  
>See our spines and wings and sail.<br>_**Blaaaaackweeeeds!**_  
>Where we've come from, no one knows.<br>_**Brooootherhoooood!**_  
>And where we go to, no one says.<br>_**The Blackweed Brotherhoooooooood!"**_

**Chapter Five**

A shaft of sunlight creating pools of light on the ground, heralded the end of the storm. The light broke through the sky-puffies and the quiet returned to the Mysterious Beyond.

Celya's head poked round the opening of the cave. Looking about for a moment, she nodded in satisfaction and returned to her fellow Blackweeds inside the cave.

"Looks like everything's clear."

"Splendid," said Redback, getting up from his rock, "C'mon everyone!"

Rheddo lumbered to his side, as Celya perched atop his back, followed closely by Tero, who strode along behind Rheddo.  
>Chomper made to follow them, but he felt a nudge from Littlefoot.<p>

"Littlefoot? What's up?" He asked.

Littlefoot leaned in close to him, and whispered "I think it might be best that we get back into the Valley."

"He's right" Cera added "Our folks are probably wondering where we are."

"Something wrong, Littlefoot?" Came Redback's voice from the cave entrance.

Littlefoot looked up and saw the Blackweeds waiting, expectantly at the entrance. Gulping, he approached Redback

"Erm...Redback? I'm sorry, but I don't think my friends and I can go back out into the Beyond..."

Redback simply grinned, and held his claws to the sides of his head "Now don't tell me... Either you think your parents might be getting worried, or you're just nervous about going into the Beyond, right?"

Littlefoot nodded "Yeah, a bit of both, really."

Redback leaned on the side of the cave, thinking for a moment. Soon enough, he spoke up "Well, me and the Brotherhood can stick around for a while, I guess... We've actually been lookin' for a place to stay quite a while."

"He's right." Rheddo said "Not much luck out in the Beyond. Too many other sharpteeth."

"Wait a minute!" Cera called, as she stepped forwards "If you're feared by everybody out there, then why do you need to worry about other sharpteeth?"

Rheddo sighed "Kid, how much experience do you have with sharpteeth?"

"More than you'd think." she replied, with a grin.

"Well, do you know anything about how their minds work?"

Cera shook her head. Thinking to herself, she had always thought that Sharpteeth never really think.

"Well, we'll tell ya." Celya added, leaning back from her perch on Rheddo's back. "Y'see, leaf-eaters and sharpteeth think differently. When leaf eaters like you get scared by some other creature, what do you usually do?"

Cera was bout to say that she never got scared, before Petrie cut her off "We hide and wait 'till scary thing goes away."

Celya nodded knowingly. "Yep, that's the truth. But sharpteeth are different. When they get scared by something, they try to get rid of it. Some other creature spooks them, they'll attack it. Their biggest fear is what they don't know about."

"So, y'see..." Redback finished "If they're all scared of us, we're public enemy number one out there. We need to find somewhere safe from that." He closed his eyes and rested his head in his claws.

Littlefoot nodded silently. He understood where they were coming from, but he had to admit. he was slightly sceptical about a group of teenage sharpteeth being feared worldwide...

"Hey, I got an idea!" Chomper piped up, "How about you stay here?"

Redback opened his eyes "Come again?"

"I think what he means to say," Ruby replied "Is that he's saying that you could stay in the caverns. He and I already live in here, and we like it well enough."

Littlefoot, however, was hesitant "I dunno..."

"C'mon Littlefoot, think about it." Chomper retorted "Me and Ruby lived in the Caverns for ages before the grownups knew we were here! And there's loads of space ever since the Little Longnecks moved to the other side of the Valley."

He was not quite convinced, but Littlefoot was against the majority here. Plus, Chomper did have a solid argument. He and Ruby had lived here since the last Cold Time, and only a few months ago did the grownups find out. And even then, they saw that they weren't going to cause trouble.  
>But then again, Chomper was obviously a friendly sharptooth. He lived off creepy-crawlers, he could speak Leaf-Eater, and Littlefoot even vouched for him by telling the grownups how he helped raise him when he first hatched.<br>Suddenly, Littlefoot was struck by an idea. If The Blackweed Brotherhood could somehow prove that they were trustworthy, maybe the grownups would see, and let them live in the Caverns. As he mused on this idea for a moment, he nodded to Chomper and the others in agreement.  
>"Alright, we can try the Caverns."<p>

Redback and Rheddo looked to eachother and grinned. Motioning with a claw, Redback gathered his Brothers and Sister into a huddle. After a quick whispered debate, they broke and Redback gave their decision.

"Sounds like a plan to me! Like you said, there's plenty of room for us here, and plus... I kinda like the atmosphere in here. It's got a real creepy feel to it. I-I like that."

"Yeah, it suits us, y'know." added Celya.

Chomper grinned "Great! Here, I'll show you around!"

He headed towards one of the many tunnels of the caverns, but stopped as he heard Celya's voice.

"Hold up, little guy. We've got a better idea."

Rheddo grinned excitedly "You mean? Do we get to...?"

"Heheh, yeah, sounds good to me!" Redback chuckled.  
>Petrie scratched his beak in confusion "What sound good?"<br>Redback didn't answer at first, but instead, pulled a strand of blackened grass from the top of his sail. Holding it inbetween his claws, he licked his hand and squeezed the grass firmly in his grip. Then, with a whiplike movement, his arm stretched out and struck the wall of the cave with an echoing SMACK!  
>Drawing his hand away, he revealed a large, black handprint on the wall. Twiddling his dripping black claws, he grinned at Littlefoot with a grin that screamed of glee, with a hint of malice.<br>"Blackhand tag. Trust me, it's alot of fun."

"Blackhand Tag?"

None of the young dinosaurs had ever heard of such a game.

"And just how do you play that?" Cera asked skeptically.

Rheddo crawled forward "Well, I assume you've all played tag before, right?"

They all nodded.

"Well, this is basicallly the same game, but with some new rules."

"First off, instead of one person being It, a group, say, us Blackweeds, are It." Celya continued "And the game is over when they've tagged everyone else."

"And to make sure we know whose been tagged, we use this goo we get from our blackweeds, so anybody whose been tagged will have a big black mark on them." Redback finished.

Littlefoot thought to himself. It did sound like good fun, but not exactly like a very fair game. "What about the person being tagged. How do they win?"

Redback made as if to answer, but paused "...Hmm, dunno. Never really thought about that part."

He sat down again, pondering the problem. he looked about the caves, as if for an idea, but halted as he looked outside upon the Valley, and his eyes met the Bright Circle above.

"I know! When the Bright Circle touches the mountains, if we haven't tagged all of you, then you win. But if we have tagged all of you, we win. Oh, and you're not allowed to go outside the caves either."

"Fair enough." Littlefoot nodded "So, you guys will be It, and me and my friends will run."

Redback nodded, and Littlefoot turned to head down a nearby tunnel. But he halted as Redback's voice rang out behind him

"Oh, and how about we make it a bit more interesting?"

Littlefoot turned to look at the sharptooth, and asked "What do you mean?"

"I mean, how about we raise the stakes a bit? Make some sort of prize for the winners."

"Like what?" Ducky asked.

"Well, how about this" Celya repled, stepping into the light "If you guys win, we'll bring you some sort of prize, like food or something. Some exotic food from outside your valley, as much as we can find! It'll be like nothing you've ever tasted!"

Littlefoot nodded silently, as Cera asked "And what if you guys win?"

Redback grinned as an idea dawned on him "Well, if we win, we...we get to stay in the Great Valley for a while. You show us what it's like living there. Sound like a plan?"

The young dinosaurs were less than at ease with this idea. Huddling together, they talked the idea over.

"What do you think, Cera?"  
>"I don't like this idea. You know what the grownups are like when new dinosaurs get into the Valley."<br>"Yeah, even if they leaf-eaters!"

"I don't think it should be that bad." Chomper piped up "They were alright when me and Ruby came to live here!"

"But they knew that we were friendly." Ruby countered "The grownups wouldn't know that these Blackweed guys are friendly unless they know. And even I'm not so sure."  
>Littlefoot suddenly had an idea "Hey, how about this. If they win, and we have to show them around in the Valley, we pair each one of them up with one of us, and they show each one around the Valley, and take care of them. That way, if they're up to something, they'll be separated and less dangerous."<p>

The youngsters nodded in agreement, but Petrie was still unsure "But, who go with which Blackweed?"  
>"And what will they eat? Three of them are sharpteeth, and we all know what kind of food sharpteeth eat, we do." Ducky added.<p>

"Well, actually, we can eat greenfood too. Another little thing Tero taught us."

The group collectively jumped, having failed to notice Celya standing a matter of feet away, having heard their entire conversation.

"And as for who goes with who," She continued "Maybe you should worry about that if we actually win the game."

Littlefoot nodded sheepishly "Er, yeah, okay. Well, let's get started."

Redback nodded, smiling again. "You have to the count of 5 to run."  
>The young dinosaurs scattered, as the Blackweed Brothers and Sister each took a strand of their trademark grass, spat on it and squeezed out the resulting ink onto their hands.<p>

"….5! Ready or not, here we come!" Rheddo's voice rang out. The chase was on!

The seven young dinosaurs scattered through the caves, Chomper and Ruby heading down one tunnel, Cera down another, Ducky Petrie and Spike down a third, and Littlefoot down a fourth. He panted as the adrenaline kicked in, and he pumped his legs. He could hear the distant shouts of the Blackweeds, and of his friends, and the pattering of nearby feet.

In a separate cave, Petrie, Ducky and Spike hurried through the tunnel, Rheddo hot on their tails. They rounded a bend, and skidded to a halt as they spotted Celya sprinting towards them. Petrie promptly took off back the way they came, while Ducky scrabbled into a small hole in the side of the cave. But poor Spike had nowhere to go. Too big and slow to try dodging the oncoming fast-runner, and Rheddo coming up at his back, he saw only one way out. Scuffing the ground, eh took off full pelt towards Celya, hoping to barge her out of the way before she could tag him.  
>Celya came to a halt as she saw the bulky spiketail galumphing towards her. He braced for impact, her hands out in front, as Spike bowled full pelt into her.<p>

Both dinosaurs tumbled in a heap, sending up a cloud of dust. Opening his eyes, an upside-down Spike moaned aloud in disappointment as he felt the dripping of black ink on his face. As he had collided with Celya, she had planted two precise handprints on his snout.  
>He could only look on as Rheddo came around the corner. Grinning, the spiked belly-dragger leisurely crawled towards Spike, then raised up an inky paw, with a malicious cackle.<p>

"Heheheh, one down, six to go."

He then firmly planted his front paw on Spike's forehead, leaving a black pawprint on a bruised and dazed Spike, before clambering over him, picking up a dazed Celya, and moving on into the caves.

Littlefoot galloped down the tunnel, glancing every now and then behind him. The sounds of the others rang throughout the caves, the pattering and scrabbling of their feet, the laughs and gleeful screams of the players.

The longneck skidded round a corner and stopped to catch his breath. The game had been going now for a while. He had had a few narrow moments, but so far, he had kept himself clean of any black handprints. He ducked behind a rock and noticed a track of black handprints. The spikeback belly-dragger must have been through here already.  
>He jumped as he heard footsteps behind him. He scrambled over the rock to the other side and ducked down as a shadow emerged from further down the cave. He sighed with relief as he saw it was Chomper and Ruby. He smiled and hurried to meet them, but noticed that neither was walking very fast. As he got closer, he saw why.<p>

Chomper rubbed the black mark on the end of his snout as he waved to Littlefoot "Hi Littlefoot. Have they got you yet?"  
>Littlefoot shook his head "So who got you?"<br>Ruby piped up "That big one, Redback. We went round a corner and he was there waiting for us to round the corner. We'd never get past him, he filled up the whole tunnel."  
>She tenderly showed him the condemning handprint on her thigh. Littlefoot frowned "Is it painful or something?"<br>She shook her head "The print isn't, but those Blackweeds do play a bit rough."  
>Further talk was cut short, as the Sailback's voice rang out not far away "C'mon, I hear them down here!"<br>Littlefoot glanced behind before heading down the cave tunnel "I'll talk to you guys later."

"Good luck" called Chomper.

Down a different tunnel, Ducky and Petrie ran and flapped as fast as they could, with Celya and Rheddo's growing louder. The pair ducked under a rocky outcrop, as the fast runner and belly-dragger scrabbled past. They waited a moment before emerging. Dusting themselves off, Ducky panted out "I wonder how the other are doing…"

"They take care themselves." Petrie replied "Think about where we hide! It still a long time till bright circle touches mountain!"

The swimmer looked about frantically. Who knows when another one of them would come along?  
>She spotted a small side-cave and grabbed Petrie. The pair hurried into the cave and waited, still and silent.<br>No sound from outside, but the low whistle of the wind through the tunnels.  
>Petrie suddenly felt a drip on his head. Must just be a leaky cave. Peeking tentatively outside the cave, he saw movement not far down the tunnel and ducked back in.<p>

As he returned into the darkness, he shrieked as he saw, just above Ducky's head, a pair of big, green eyes.  
>"Petrie? What is wrong?" Ducky asked in concern, blissfully unaware of the eyes behind her.<br>The flyer could do nothing but point behind her, his feet and wings frozen stiff with shock.  
>Ducky watched her friend in confusion "What is it Petrie?"<p>

Turning round, she saw exactly what. She had no time to cry out as an inky black clawed hand engulfed her head.

"Gotcha." Said Celya with satisfaction as she climbed from under the winded form of Cera, who lay on her back, a black mark on her belly and head. She had been sprinting down the tunnel when she spotted the fast-biter running towards her. With too short a distance to skid to a stop and turn round, she had tried to jump her. But the poor threehorn was still no great jumper, and landed squarely atop the tiny sharptooth.  
>Luckily for Celya, Rheddo was not far behind, and after landing a black paw on Cera's crest, rolled her over and retrieved Celya, who had landed a mark on her belly just as the threehorn landed on her.<p>

"How many are left now?" The fast biter asked.  
>Rheddo counted on his claws "Err… Well, we already got this one and that spiketail a ways back. And I think Redback got a couple."<br>Celya grinned "Not much to go… Ah, perfect timing, here's someone now."  
>Rheddo turned and saw Tero round the bend and approach them. "You had any luck Tero?"<p>

The flyer silently nodded and lifted up Ducky and Petrie, both covered in black slime and held by their tails in his claw.

"Tero! Put them down!" Celya shouted "We're playing a game, not hunting."  
>Rheddo nudged her knowingly "Ahem…"<br>"Oops….Well, anyways, put them down! Yer hurtin' them!"

Tero looked as if he wasn't going to obey her, but she turned her frosty glare on him, and he relented, putting the young dinosaurs down on the ground. The inkstained pair scurried away from Tero and down a nearby tunnel.  
>"C'mon, there's only one left now. let's finish this." Celya said, leading the way.<p>

Littlefoot sighed with relief. There was no way Redback would find him in here. The sharptooth had been chasing him when he turned down a narrow, curved tunnel. Redback would never fit down here.

As he clambered through the passageway, he thought to himself about these Blackweed Brothers. They seemed a bit rough, but for dinosaurs from the Beyond, that was to be expected. For sharpteeth, however, they seemed nice enough. But how would the grownups react, Littlefoot thought. They accepted Chomper quickly enough, but he had raised him since he hatched. He knew Chomper well, he was very different.  
>He reached the end of the tunnel, reaching a junction with a larger cave, mercifully empty. The longneck took another moment to catch his breath, before he heard the sounds of voices down another tunnel. He got back up and trotted down an alternate tunnel, which led to a junction with another tunnel further ahead. He stopped briefly as he saw a shaft that led through to the sky, and saw that the Bright Circle was less than a foot's-width from the mountain top. He had almost won!<p>

He ran ahead triumphantly, and as he reached the junction he was bowled over as he collided with something coming down the crossing tunnel.  
>The mass of dinosaur tumbled against the wall, landing Littlefoot upside down, ontop of whatever he hit.<p>

"Heehee…gotcha now...heh!" Came the voice from beneath him, as a large, inky hand rose up to press a firm, but gentle, black handprint onto his face. The mass shifted and the longneck slipped off, landing on the ground. Redback giggled to himself as he looked to Littlefoot.  
>"You okay?" Redback asked as he dusted himself off, "I mean, aside from being out?"<br>Littlefoot nodded, now weak with exertion. He got up and shook the dirt from his body. As if on cue, the rest of the Blackweed Brotherhood emerged from another tunnel.

"Ah, I thought I heard you, Red." Rheddo called.  
>The sailback waved his claw "Just got Littlefoot here. How've you done?"<br>"Got 'em all." Celya said, suddenly perking her head up "Ah, sounds like they're on their way here now."  
>Moments later, groaning with exertion and battered, Chomper, Ruby, Ducky, Petrie, Cera and Spike emerged from the other tunnel.<br>"So we won?" Redback asked with glee.  
>Littlefoot nodded "Yeah, I guess so."<br>A cheer rose from the Blackweeds, as Redback stepped forwards to pat Littlefoot on the head with his non-inky hand "You gave a good game, kid. 'Twas an honour playing with you."  
>"Um, thanks…" Littlefoot said.<p>

Redback went about the other young dinosaurs, Patting Cera and Spike on the head as well, and shaking the hands of the others. The youngsters were visibly taken aback by this sudden display of politeness from such a savage-looking sharptooth, but they smiled and thanked him just the same.  
>"So then, how about that promise of yours?" Redback said as he returned to Littlefoot.<br>Littlefoot nodded "Yeah, I know. C'mon."

The group of dinosaurs gathered, Littlefoot and Redback at the head as before, and Littlefoot led them through the caves to the exit. The Bright Circle was just beginning to sink below the Great Wall. He turned to Redback and the Brotherhood.  
>"Okay, l know we agreed to show you around the Great Valley if you won… But not right now."<p>

The Brothers looked ready to object, but Redback raised an authoritative claw and they fell silent.

"Go on…"  
>"Well, I think the safest thing would be that you guys wait here until it gets dark, and we'll come and get you. It would be safer to show you around when nobody's awake."<p>

Cera glared at Littlefoot "Littlefoot, do we really have to always have sleepless nights whenever we meet new people? First the tiny longnecks, then Guido, then the Yellow-Bellies, now this?"

Littlefoot glared back "I'm sorry. But it's just the safest way to get newcomers into the Valley. Especially with sharpteeth."

The threehorn girl rolled her eyes and mumbled something mutinous but indistinct. Redback, however, was all for the idea.  
>"Makes sense. So, we stay up here until you come and get us, right?"<br>Littlefoot nodded "We have to go now. See you again tonight!" and headed down from the caves towards the valley floor, his friends in tow.

The sailback sighed with satisfaction. It would be nice to feel healthy grass under his feet again. He headed back into the caves, followed by Celya, Rheddo and Tero, sat down, and waited.

Not long now.


	3. Chapter 3: A Quiet Walk

**Chapter Three**

The sky turned a pale golden colour, as the Bright Circle sunk from the sky, down behind the far mountains, heralding the approach of night. All through the Valley, dinosaurs said their goodnights and headed to their nests, lairs, caves and general sleeping-spots. Within the hour, the entire Valley was silent.

Littlefoot lay down beside his grandparents, both fast asleep already, snoring gently. Not Littlefoot though. It seemed like no matter what he does, he could not get to sleep. His mind raced with thoughts and ideas concerning the upcoming plan.

Wait a while longer, until the Great Night Circle is high in the sky, he thought. Just in case some other dinosaurs were having trouble getting to sleep too. Then he would quietly tiptoe his way over to Cera's sleeping place and wake her up. Then Ducky and Spike, then Petrie's nest...

He froze for a moment as he heard a crack of a branch nearby. Peering over, he saw a small shape approaching, followed closely by a taller shape. As they came into the moonlight, Littlefoot breathed a sigh of relief to see that it was nothing ore than Chomper and Ruby.

"Oh, it's just you guys... What are you doing out here?"

Chomper sat down beside him "I couldn't sleep. I was too excited about tonight!"

"We were wondering when we'd go to get the Blackweeds, so we came to ask you when we'd go get the Blackweeds." Ruby added quietly.

Littlefoot yawned slightly as he got up. Stretching, he whispered "I'd say about now would be right. Did you see anybody else awake when you came over here?"

Chomper shook his head "Nope, everyone's fast asleep."

"Perfect. Let's go get the others."

The trio of young dinosaurs silently made their way through the masses of sleeping dinosaurs, stopping by Ducky's nest to grab her and Spike. Cera's sleeping spot was next, though she took a bit of coaxing. Finally, after some nudging and pleading, Cera got up and grudgingly followed.

As Ducky and Petrie flapped down from his nest on the ledge, Littlefoot spoke up.

"Great, that's all of us. Now, I've been thinking over what we'll do tonight to show Redback and the others around. I've decided that each of us will be assigned to one of them."

"So who goes with who?" Ruby asked.

Littlefoot scuffed the earth with a foot "I, uh, I'm not sure yet... We can work that out with them, I think."

"Sounds good to me!" Chomper said "Let's get going."

With that, the youngsters made their way as quietly as possible, towards the hidden caverns. As they neared the cave entrance, they heard a sound. A sort of whooshing sound, like the beating of wings, and then...

Nothing.

Now getting very nervous, Littlefoot cautiously proceeded, and was relieved to see the sillhouettes of Redback and the others exiting the cave, walking towards them.

"Ah, Littlefoot" Redback called to them, waving "We were wondering when you'd show up."

"Sorry... You guys ready?"

The sailback nodded as he was joined by Celya and Rheddo. He looked over Littlefoot's shoulder and nodded in the direction of the others. "You ready to go too, Tero?"

Littlefoot glanced behind and was amazed to see Tero standing among his friends, as silent and motionless as ever. It took the others a few seconds to realise he was there, and when they did, it clearly took all their willpower to not scream.

Tero nodded and joined his fellow Blackweeds, as Littlefoot regained his composure and spoek to Redback:

"Erm... Redback, we've decided that each of us will be assigned to showing one of you or your friends around."

The sailback nodded as Rheddo spoke up behind him "So, whose going with who?"

Littlefoot thought for a moment and conversed with his friends before coming up with a decision.

"Ducky and Spike will take care of Celya, since she's a similar size to Ducky."

The fast-biter joined Ducky, who noticed that Celya was about a head taller than her.

"Chomper and Ruby will take Rheddo."

Chomper smiled at Rheddo as he crawled to join them. The belly-dragger gave what may have been an attempt at a grin, but appeared more like he was showing off how pointy his teeth were.

Littlefoot gulped audibly, but continued "Cera and Petrie wil take Tero."

Petrie smiled nervously up at the flyer, who stared at him with no semblance of affection, friendship, or any emotion for that matter.

The longneck then turned to Redback "and you're paired up with me, Redback."

Redback smiled down at Littlefoot "Well, that should be interesting."

Littlefoot nervously smiled back "Yeah... So, we're just gonna show you around the Valley, let you see what it's like, let you see how our kinds live."

"Should prove illuminating." Redback added with a grin.

Littlefoot nodded. "You guys ready?"

"Yep. C'mon Rheddo!" Chomper said, heading off with Ruby. Rheddo shrugged and followed behind.

Littlefoot watched as Petrie and Tero took to the air "C'mon Tero... Me know lotsa good lookout places."

Cera trotted behind them, no doubt muttering some mutinous nothings.

Spike lowered his head to allow Ducky to climb aboard, but Celya refused.

"I'll walk, thanks." she said dismissively.

Thus Littlefoot and Redback were left alone. He turned to the sailback "Well, let's get going."

Redback nodded and followed obediently behind Littlefoot.

The pair walked together, along the fast-water, past the sheltering grass and the bubbling mud. They wandered through the trees, past the thundering falls, along the base of the great wall, and all over the Valley. Littlefoot would have said something, but as soon as he turned to speak, he saw something in Redback's face.

The sharptooth seemed...touched. There was no real way to describe it, except that word. Touched. His gaze was never still, his eyes shifting from one sight to another, his mouth slightly agape.

"R-redback? Are...you okay?"

Redback looked down. "I'm fine." he said, almost evasively.

Littlefoot was unsure what to say, so he opted to say nothing. The pair continued across the valley, quietly tiptoing past a crowd of sleeping dinosaurs.

It was at this point Redback noticed something. As he passed the sleeping huddled masses, he saw that just among that small crowd, there were dozens of different creatures: twopeds, flyers, swimmers, longnecks, threehorns, clubtails., the variety was endless. The kind of variety you'd never get with sharpteeth.

He smiled at this as he and Littlefoot continued.

Soon, they headed up the path to the top of the Great Wall. Redback doggedly climbed on, but Littlefoot was beginning to flag. Despite everything he had been through, he still got tired just like any young dinosaur, and walking through the night takes it out of anyone. His yawn was heard by Redback, who stopped and returned to his side.

He lowered his neck and shoulders to Littlefoot's level "Climb aboard."

Littlefoot was hesitant at first "You sure?"

"Yeah, go on" Redback grinned "Just watch the sail. Pretty fragile, you know."

Littlefoot gratefully clambered up onto Redback's shoulders, wrapping his arms and legs gently round his neck. Strange. he had always imagined the skin of a sharptooth to be hard and cold and scaly. But Redback was surprisingly warm, and while his neck was boney, it certainly wasn't hard or rough.  
>Redback stood up and started back up the ridge. As they reached the top, Redback sat down, letting his legs drape over the side of the ridge, and Littlefoot clambered off and sat down beside him.<p>

They sat in silence together, the Great Valley spread out before them. No word passed between the pair, but the peace of the night air and the gentle sounds of the Valley, the rumble of the falls, the chirping of bugs, the occasional grunt or growl of some dinosaur in sleep, compensated for the silence.

"You know, you got a great home here." Redback said, finally breaking the silence.

"Hmm? Oh, yeah." Littlefoot replied, awakening from a slight doze "Yeah, the Great Valley is a nice place to live. Plenty to eat, good weather usually, and the Great Wall keeps us safe from..."

"Us?"

Littlefoot shuffled hesitantly "Well... Sharpteeth, yes."

Redback raised an eyebrow "Oh? Are we not sharpteeth to you? My brotherhood and I?"

"Well...err... you're different from them..I mean..." Littlefoot wasn't sure how he could phrase it.

"Well, I get what ya mean. But I'm not just talking about the place itself. The other creatures you live with. It's great."

"...What do you mean?"

Redback swept a clawed hand through the air, over the Valley "Just look. Hundreds of dinosaurs, dozens of different herds, families and kinds. And you all just live together, no fightin', no hatred, no nothin'."

Astonished at how philosophical the sharptooth began to sound, Littlefoot replied "Well, uh, I guess so... I'm guessing you don't get that in the Mysterious Beyond, huh?"

Redback shook his head. "Never. Out there, it's eat or be eaten... I'd love to live in a place like this."

Littlefoot smiled. He imagined this to be like what Chomper would grow up to be like. Sharptooth, there's no way to change that, but kind and peaceful nonetheless.  
>The longneck suddenly yawned. The Night Circle was already at its peak.<p>

"Gettin' sleepy, eh?" Redback asked, smiling.

Littlefoot nodded.

"Well, I've seen plenty for now. let's head back, eh?"

He lowered his neck again and Littlefoot clambered on board, and the pair clambered back down the ridge and made their way back to the secret caverns. They made their goodnights and went their separate ways.

Littlefoot returned to the sleeping forms of his grandparents and huddled down in his usual spot, as he mused on the last things he had said to Redback.

"We should get together again soon."

Redback, meanwhile, lay down inside the caves, and thought. This Valley was a nice place...Hmm, boy was that an understatement. It was a beautiful place, a paradise. Too beautiful, in fact.

He would have to talk to the Brotherhood soon.


	4. Chapter 4: Initiation

Littlefoot awoke to the pleasing warmth of the Bright Circle at his back. He opened his eyes, blinking the sleep-sand clear.

He turned as he heard the familiar stomping sound of his grandmother. She lowered her massive head and nudged him gently.

"Time to get up, little one." She said quietly.

Littlefoot yawned and stretched his limbs. Rising up, he licked his lips and followed his grandmother.

"Let's head down to the watering hole." She said to him.

"Great, I am pretty thirsty." he replied. It had been a warm night, and he was still a little tired from staying up late with...

Oh yeah! Amazing, he had almost forgotten about his nighttime walk with Redback. Littlefoot wondered what he was doing at the moment. Probably still asleep in the caves with the rest of the brotherhood. He made a mental note to ask his friends how their nights went with their respective Blackweeds when he met them.

As he and his grandparents ate and drank at the pond, he smiled as each family of his friends arrived to join the large communal pool. This was one thing he liked so much about the Valley. Everyday, everyone would eat together in the morning at the watering hole, like some huge communal feast. And that was without the occasional celebrations, like the Time of Great Giving, namedays, and the ever-popular Bright Circle Celebration. Those times, the feasting and festivities would increase tenfold!  
>After breakfast had finished and the children excused themselves for a day of play, Littlefoot and his friends hurried over to the caves where Ruby and Chomper met them. He then asked Ducky how things went with her and Celya.<p>

"It was alright, I guess. Spike and I showed her where we sleep, the watering hole, and then we walked along the Great Wall. But she did not seem very interested." Ducky replied, as Spike nodded through a mouthful of grass.  
>"Then she asked if we could see the Valley from high up, she did. So we took her to the top of the ridge and she looked around alot, and then asked to go back down. We went back to the ground and she went back to the caves."<p>

"Huh, that's strange." Littlefoot mused.

"How Rheddo acted was the same as how Celya acted" Ruby added "He asked about the caves, so we showed him around them."

"He almost didn't care at all about the Valley itself." Chomper said "Just the caves."

"Hmph!" Cera snorted "you guys got it lucky! You have no idea what it was like being stuck with Tero al night!"

"She right. Tero one strange flyer." Petrie added, as he perched on her crest.

"It's like the guy prides himself in being creepy!" Cera continued "We'd show him something, and it's like talking to a rock!"

"Big, skinny rock, with big green eyes that...ooh..." Petrie shuddered for a moment "Never blinked. Me watch him all night, and he never blink once!"

Littlefoot gulped. While he understood the rest, ever since the Blackweeds told him Tero's story, the part about him never blinking was definitely creepy.

"And after a while, he just flew off. No goodbye, no thanks, nothing! He just flew off back to the caves."

"Well, when the Bright Circle peaks, I'm gonna go talk to them again. You guys wanna come?" Littlefoot asked as they walked towards the tall trees.

No one seemed willing to join him. Littlefoot sighed. He must have gotten lucky with Redback. The others were obviously reluctant to be around the Blackweeds, but not him. He definitely wasn't reluctant to be around Redback. In fact, he was a little eager to go see him again.

But for the moment, he let that go as his thoughts turned to play. Cera knocked a fresh fruitball from a nearby tree, and the game was on!

A few hours of play, and several exhausted young dinosaurs later, Littlefoot excused himself from the game and headed off towards the caverns where the Brotherhood were staying.

As he hopped across the fast water, he heard a voice talking to him from the nearby trees. "Not playing with your little friends today, Littlefoot?"

Littlefoot jumped and nearly missed the jump from the final rock to the side of the stream. The grass rustled as Mr. Clubtail emerged, chuckling to himself.

"Heh, sorry if I startled ya."

Littlefoot smiled "Oh, hi Mr. Clubtail."

Clubtail smiled back "Mornin' kid. It just seemed odd that you're not out with your friends today."

"Well, I was just going to see some other friends of mine. They live over in the Hidden Caverns."

Mr. Clubtail raised an eyebrow, but asked nothing of it "Well, have a good time. See ya round, Kid."

With that, the old dinosaur moved on, and Littlefoot hurried off towards the caverns. Within minutes he was there, and checking nobody was watching him, hurried into the caverns.

"Littlefoot? Is that you?" Came Redback's voice from within the caves.

Littlefoot followed the voice round a bend, and found the Brotherhood. There was Celya, perched atop Rheddo, who lay on the floor of the cave, at Redback's feet. Redback himself was seated on a rocky ledge, while Tero was, as usual; separate from the group, standing deeper in the shadows of the cave.

"Hey there Littlefoot. I was hoping to talk to you again soon." Redback said, stepping over Rheddo and Celya to stand before Littlefoot.

"I just wanna say" Redback said "On behalf of the Brotherhood, how much we appreciated last night's tour of the Valley. Good times had by all, right gang?"

The Brothers nodded, as Celya added "Yep. Tell your friends we enjoyed it."

Littlefoot grinned "Glad to hear it..."

Redback beckoned Littlefoot to join him and the others and continued "In fact, we think that for your efforts, you deserve somethin' in return..."

Littlefoot backed out briefly "Oh no, it's alright, you don't need to..."

"No no, I insist. It's the least you can do." Redback responded, drawing Littlefoot back into the circle. "And so, we've talked it over, and we've decided to give you the honorary Blackweeds."

Littlefoot was quiet for a moment. Honorary Blackweeds? "What do you mean?"

"It means" Redback replied "That as of tonight, you will be an honorary member of the Blackweed Brotherhood."

The longneck's face lit up. Even in the little time he had known about the Brotherhood, they had always sounded glamorous and exciting to a certain degree. And to be included as member! He nodded silently.

Redback smiled "Then meet us after dark. We'll be by those firecracks we saw last night. We'll give you a proper initiation there."

Later that night, just as agreed, Littlefoot lay down to rest, but could not sleep for excitement. What was this ceremony? What would happen?  
>After he was certain that nobody else was awake, he got up and silently snuck past the sleeping masses of his grandparents.<p>

He slipped through the crowds of sleeping forms, around the ponds, in the direction of the smoking mountains. All the firepits and firecracks were in that area. And, like they said, there were the Brotherhood.

They were quite a sight. Gathered around a firecrack, the glow played with the shadows on their faces, giving an air of true mystery to them. He also noticed that, aside from the usual black shadows that were painted round the eyes of the Brothers, they had added to their makeup, strange patterns and lines and spikes around the eyes, adding to the mystery.

Redback stepped forwards over the crack, through the smoke being emitted from deep in the earth "Step forth." He said in a deep, serious voice. He had added to his makeup, a lightning-bolt on each cheek, and lines from the inner tips of his eyes, to the corners of his mouth.

Littlefoot gulped. He had not prepared for this. Steeling himself, he approached the Brotherhood, until he could feel the heat of the firecrack beneath his feet.

"Are you prepared to accept the bestowal of the honorary Blackweed Brotherhoodship?" the sharptooth continued.

Littlefoot nodded, too nervous to speak.

"Do you swear to uphold the reputation and name of the Blackweed Brotherhood?"

He nodded again.

"Then kneel down, and receive your reward."

Littlefoot knelt, though to be perfectly honest, his legs were about to give out anyway. Celya approached him, carrying a handful of strands of black grass, soaked in water from a nearby pond.

"You may wanna close your eyes." she said.  
>Littlefoot obeyed, and closed his eyes. He felt a finger delicately touching his eyelid, moving over it. She must be putting that black ink over his eye, as makeup like the others had.<p>

As he felt her finger move away from his eyes, he opened them and saw Redback plucking a strand of black grass from his sail. He then took another strand from Tero, and another from Celya and Rheddo each. He then approached Littlefoot.

"Stretch out your neck." Redback said.

Littlefoot obediently did so. Lowering his head, he extended his neck as far as he could. Redback looped the strands of black grass gently round his neck, tying them in a knot, so that the loose ends hung down over Littlefoot's front, like some primitive necktie.

"You may rise, Brother Littlefoot." Redback said, solemnly.

He stood up proudly. Looking down at himself, he thought the black grass did make him look rather impressive.

"Now go, Brother Littlefoot. Until tomorrow morning." Redback said, waving a claw solemnly.

He was a little taken aback. This had been a bit sudden and quick and now he'd have to leave as soon as it was over? Oh well, he thought. He was too elated at the idea of being a member of such a group to care.

With a nod and a smile, he headed back to his nest. He stopped briefly by a pond to get a look at his reflection.  
>There were the blackweeds, tied around his neck in a gentle noose. And the eye makeup. With his eyes open, it was rather subtle. Just a thin line of black around his eye, that seemed to add depth and definition to his gaze. He did look rather impressive and mysterious.<p>

As he lay down in his circle of stones, he smiled to himself. To think, just this morning, he was just an ordinary young longneck boy. And now, a proud Blackweed Brother. He shuddered with glee as he thought over the title he had been given. Brother Littlefoot. It just sounded so mysterious and cool.

Brother Littlefoot

The next few days were like a blur for Littlefoot. Now that he was in with the Blackweed Brotherhood, he had a great sense of responsibility. He would hang out with the other Brotherhood members as often as he could manage without arousing suspicion. Most often, this would be a quick visit to the Secret Caverns sometime near the end of the day, joining them in the dark recesses of the caves, listening to what they had to say. Most of their time seemed to be taken up with telling stories of their adventures out in the Mysterious Beyond. Granted, he had had his share of adventures out in the Beyond, with his friends, but against the stories Redback and Company had to tell, his stories paled in comparison. Still, he was delighted to see them sitting with rapt attention, listening as he told them for the third time the tale of his adventures into the Land of Mists, in search of the elusive Night Flower to save his grandfather's life.

"*Sniff* Such a dedicated grandson." Redback said at the end of the tale as the others applauded.

But the tales of the Blackweeds were by far more exciting. Littlefoot's favourite was their tale of their encounter with the creature they referred to as the "Black Mountain Monster... So named, not because he was from a black mountain, but because he was black and big as a mountain!"

According to their tales, this creature was larger than any beast they had ever seen, with skin like rock and a mouth that shot blue flames. The part about the blue flames was a bit far-fetched, Littlefoot admitted, but it was still an exciting story to hear.

Then as they wrapped the stories up, Littlefoot would make his goodbyes and head home, with Redback escorting him to the exit of the caves. Littlefoot repeatedly told him that he now knew the way out by heart and did not need an escort, but every time the sharptooth shrugged it off, simply saying:

"Maybe so, but I want to."

However, all was not well in the Great Valley. Littlefoot's other friends watched as Littlefoot began to spend more and more time with the Blackweed Brotherhood, and it made them uneasy.  
>Cera most of all. She had never been a very trusting soul, and this was no exception. Something about the Blackweeds rubbed her the wrong way. Maybe it was the fact that most of them were sharpteeth, maybe it was their disturbing appearance, she couldn't tell. But she was certainly shocked when Littlefoot adopted their appearance. She had been so used to Littlefoot the way he was, so seeing him with black grass hanging from his neck, and black shadows daubed on his eyes was a big surprise for her.<br>The others didn't seem to share her concerns for their friend. Chomper and Ruby were too glad to see more sharpteeth like themselves to mind, Ducky and Spike were intimidated perhaps, but didn't see anything particularly wrong with them. The only one who shared her concerns was Petrie, and that was because he was simply terrified of them.

So, as Littlefoot would leave their games to visit the Blackweeds in their cavernous homes, Petrie and Cera could be seen conspiring together, concocting theories of what they could be doing together. _We mostly just hang out and tell stories_, Littlefoot would insist, but Cera was certain there was more to it.

Voicing their concerns to the rest of the group, Petrie and Cera devised a plan.

"So then, what do you think?" Cera asked the group.

Ducky, Ruby and Chomper seemed skeptical of their views. Ducky stepped forth to speak "But Cera, if Littlefoot was doing something else with the Blackweed Brotherhood, why would he not just tell us? It does not make sense, no no no..."

"It makes perfect sense!" Cera retorted "He just doesn't want to tell us what they've been up to. He probably has to keep it a secret, 'cos he's in that dumb Brotherhood."

"Well, this is just me thinking out loud, " Ruby chimed in "But why don't we just watch what Littlefoot doesn't want us to see? Wouldn't that clear everything up?"

"My plan exactly, Ruby." Cera replied with a grim smile "Tonight, we follow Littlefoot to see what he and that dumb Brotherhood get up to."

Ducky, however, was hesitant "I'm not so sure. If Littlefoot doesn't want us to know what he is doing with them, why should we intrude? It is not doing any harm, it isn't."

But Cera was adamant "Oh c'mon. Aren't you at least curious?"

Ducky nodded admittedly. She was a little curious about the whole issue. "Well, okay. If it will stop you worrying so much, Spike and I are in."

Spike nodded in agreement as Cera snorted "I'm not worrying I just want to know what it is that keeps him going back to them."

"So, when we gonna do this then?" Petrie asked from his perch on her crest.

Cera was absolute and certain "Tomorrow night. He told me that he would be able to play more tomorrow because instead of leaving us early, he's going to see them when it gets dark instead."

Chomper sighed "I guess we'd better rest up then. It looks like we'll have another sleepless night tomorrow."

With that, goodnights were made and the sextet departed. _We're going to get to the bottom of this_, Cera thought to herself as she lay down to sleep at her father's side. All would be made clear, tomorrow night.


	5. Chapter 5: A Moonlit Stroll

Where am I?

This was what instantly entered Littlefoot's mind. He found himself in a vast, green plain; with endless stretches of grass as far as the eye could see. A gentle breeze made the grass sway and dance, and caused the black grass hanging around his neck to flutter playfully around his snout.

He smiled to himself. What a peaceful place. It was as if he was the only person in this world. Just him, and the infinite plains of green grass.

As he wandered through this vast world, he spotted in the distance a faint figure. As he ran to get a closer look, the figure became clearer, and he saw that it was Redback. But he looked different; His trademark hanging blackweeds had vanished, and there were no dark circles around his eyes. He looked strangely naked without his blackweeds, Littlefoot thought to himself, but he still held his strange aura of combined adventure and security.

He smiled at Redback, and the sharptooth smiled back at him. It was a strange smile he had never seen the Redback make before; perfectly gentle and kind.  
>Not a word passed between the young dinosaurs. They just stood together, in this strange, peaceful world, gazing at eachother. As they stood, a sudden gust of wind blew, and sent Littlefoot's blackweeds flying off, into the sky.<br>Littlefoot made to chase after it, but was stopped by Redback's hand. Confused, the longneck looked up to his large friend, who shook his head, the smile never leaving his mouth.  
>"You won't want those anymore" The sharptooth said calmly.<br>He made to push past Redback's hand, but was pushed back himself, as Redback's other arm jabbed painfully into his side.  
>"OW! Redback, what are you doing?"<p>

The sharptooth said nothing. Redback's face suddenly fell, his features changing from a calm serene expression, to a visage that almost seemed world-weary or mournful.

Littlefoot then watched in horror as the very flesh began to melt from Redback's face. His skin slewed from his head, revealing red muscle, glistening in the sunlight, which had turned from its sharp yellow shine to a harsh reddish glow.  
>His eyes grew wide with fright as Redback's face continued to melt and decay before him. His eyes dissolved from their sockets in his skull, which slowly became more and more visible, until all that remained of Redback's head was the skull itself, coloured a lightish brown by the red light that shone round.<p>

Littlefoot tore his eyes from the gruesome sight, and found that all round him was desolation and ruin. Great shafts of rock sprouted from the ground before his eyes, and the green grass turned to a sea of flames. Balls of fire rained from the crimson sky, adding to the inferno all around him.

He felt another sharp jab to his side, as he turned to face Redback's face, or what remained of it.  
>The skull leered close to him, the mouth hissing with breath, carrying the rancid smell of decay. As Littlefoot's eyes moved upwards, he glimpsed behind Redback, a strange, thin shadow of some indistinguishable creature. The shade stared back at him with a pair of huge, green eyes, harsh, unblinking...<p>

_"Littlefoot!"_

His eyes snapped open. He gazed about and saw that he was in a small clearing, surrounded by trees. The sun was just peeking out from behind the mountains. He was back in the Valley, though it was not his usual sleeping spot.  
>He saw a small figure approaching him from the trees. Hastily wiping away the sleep-sand, mixed with tears swimming from his eyes, he was relieved to see it was Cera.<p>

"Hmmph! So this is where you are!" She called as she neared him.

"Oh, *Yawn* Hi Cera... What are you doing up so early?"  
>He made to get up, and felt a sharp pain in his side. Looking over, he saw that just by his side, there lay a tiny pointy-seed, barely bigger than one of his toes.<br>He sighed. That must have been what that weird poking in my side was in that dream, he thought. He shuddered for a moment as he remembered the horrific images he had just seen.

"Looking for you, Littlefoot! What the heck are you doing out here? You're on the other side of the Valley from your sleeping place!"  
>Littlefoot looked around at the clearing he was in. It certainly wasn't his sleeping place.<br>"I guess...after I said goodnight to Redback, I made my way back to my usual sleeping place, and fell asleep before I got there..." He said, half to himself.  
>"Redback!" Cera cried in a voice that made Littlefoot jump. She'd nearly forgotten what she had meant to say to Littlefoot in the first place "Littlefoot, I need to talk to you about those Blackweed guys, it's important!..."<br>"Can it wait?" Littlefoot interrupted. "I need to make sure my grandparents aren't worried."  
>Littlefoot trotted off towards the other side of the Valley. Cera groaned and followed as best as she could. Always rushing about, she thought. Why couldn't he just wait and hear what she has to say? There wouldn't be much time soon!<br>"Oh Littlefoot! There you are!"  
>Grandma Longneck Lowered her head to embrace her grandson as he returned to their sleeping spot.<br>"Where have you been?" The old longneck asked, relieved that he was alright.  
>Littlefoot hesitated for a second, thinking up a convincing story "I, er, think I was sleepwalking. I just woke up and I was over near the Tall Trees."<br>Cera caught on "Yeah, he was walking around in his sleep. I was getting a drink and I saw him, so I followed him. You know, to make sure he didn't get into trouble or anything. Then he woke up, and he had no idea what was going on."  
>Grandma Longneck smiled "Well, thank you Cera. Sleepwalking can be quite dangerous sometimes. You did the right thing."<br>Cera smiled proudly.  
>"So, can we go and play now?" Littlefoot asked.<br>The old longneck nodded with a smile, and the two young dinosaurs ran off together.

Once they were out of sight and earshot of Grandma Longneck, Cera skidded to a halt and headed towards a nearby copse of rocks, with a covering of small trees. Confused and intrigued, Littlefoot followed her in.  
>"Now what did you want to say?" Littlefoot asked as he joined Cera in the copse.<br>Cera's face became serious "Littlefoot, we need to talk. Last night, when you went to see Redback during the night…"  
>"You followed us."<p>

Cera was surprised "H-how did you know?"

Littlefoot frowned "Redback spotted you. That's why we ran." There was a slight hint of contempt in his voice.

"Oh" Cera was hesitant to continue. It was obvious Littlefoot was not impressed, "Well, after you and Redback gave us the slip…"

"You know, it wouldn't hurt if you'd trust someone new, sometimes." Littlefoot interrupted again.

He turned to face Cera, who wore an expression of pure shock.

"What?"  
>"Well think about it." Littlefoot explained "How often have we met a new person, and have you not trust them?"<br>"But Littlefoot, this is different…"  
>"Remember Mo? The moment you met him, you started interrogating him about where he was from!"<p>

_**"THEY'RE GONNA DESTROY THE VALLEY!"**_

The words hit Littlefoot like a slap to the face. Right out of nowhere.

"…What?"

"You heard me!" Cera cried, suddenly very serious "It was their plan all along!"  
>Littlefoot sat down as his knees gave way. The sheer shock had taken all feeling from them.<p>

Cera became slightly calmer, and continued "As I was saying, after you and Redback gave us the slip, I was heading back to my sleeping place, when I heard voices. Naturally I was curious, so I went to get a listen. It was those other three Blackweeds, Celya, Rheddo and Tero."  
>Littlefoot could only nod. He was speechless.<br>"So, I listen, and they're talking about some big plan…"

The scene was clear as water as she recounted what she had overheard:

"So, we're gonna go through with this then?" Celya asked.  
>Rheddo nodded "Of course! We've come this far, why'd we back out now?"<br>"Well, Redback… Shouldn't he be here, if we're gonna plan this now?" Celya muttered.  
>"Ehh, he's grown soft. It's that longneck kid." Rheddo explained "He's grown really close to him. Dunno why though, he's no different from the other kids he's done in before, every time we do this. It was his big idea, anyways."<p>

They both looked to Tero, who stood by their scratched plan of the Valley. Mute as ever, he simply drew a claw across his throat.

"Right." Celya nodded "If he's not goin' with the plan, he goes down with them. So, for starters, we burn the forest."  
>"There's a firepit pretty close to the Tall Trees. We can set some big branches on fire there, and carry them to the Trees, and let them do the work." Rheddo added.<br>Tero held a wing to the air and stood still for a moment. He then nodded as something became clear to him, as he knelt by the plan and pointed to a small patch of trees, near to a dense forest.

"So if'n we set the fire there, the wind will carry it over to the other trees." Rheddo interpreted. "Then we'll make our getaway into a cave here" He pointed to a spot near the trees on the map. "I can remember the way round those caves from when that tiny sharptooth showed me round 'em."  
>Celya nodded "Then what, Tero?"<p>

Tero etched a line in the dirt, from the entrance of a cave on the map, towards a point across the fast-water in another large grove of trees. He tapped the point, then tapped the point in the previous trees.

"We do the same there. Right. There's bound to be another firepit round there. If not, we'll just carry some other burning branches from the other place."  
>A toothy grin erupted on Rheddo's face "Right. Celya, yer the fast one. You and Tero take care of the fires. I'll deal with the grand finale..."<p>

Tero drew their attention to a point along the Great Wall. With a single claw, he dashed a gap in the line.

"Yeah, we break open that wall of theirs! It'll be around midday by then, there'll be dozens of sharpteeth wandering around outside, lookin' for some lunch. They won't be able to resist."  
>Celya licked her lips "I might just join them, you know. Indulge myself."<br>The sinister planning session continued, with points marked off all over the Valley. Through their number and speed, as well as knowledge of the Valley's layout, it would be a cinch. A fire here, a rockslide there. Heck, maybe they'll even get lucky and get an earthshake at the same time! All the while, the sharpteeth from outside would be wreaking havoc among the dinosaurs. The whole Great Valley would fall apart.

"If all goes to plan, the Valley will be in total chaos by the evening!" Rheddo chuckled. He looked to Tero, to see what he thought.

He leaned over the map of the Great Valley, and with one clawed hand, wiped it clean from the dirt. The blank, emotionless visage of the flyer changed, if just for a moment, to a tight smile of malicious joy. Rheddo shuddered at the sight.  
>"Ooh! Don't do that Tero! It creeps me out!"<p>

The trio stood back as they looked into eachother's eyes. Joking aside, determination was set in the visages of all present.  
>"So, we meet at the firepits by the Tall Trees tomorrow. If Redback's not there, he's a dead sharptooth. Then it begins."<p>

"…And then they just headed back to the caves!"

Cera stamped on the ground in fury "I knew there was something about those Blackweeds I don't like!"  
>"I…I trusted them…"<br>"They used you, Littlefoot!" Cera countered "They used all of us!"  
>"Not Redback though!" LIttlefoot cried "He's different!"<br>"He's their leader! I bet it's what they do!" Cera shouted back, emotions running high "They get a bunch of leafeaters to trust them and take them back to their home. They get to know the area, then they turn on them!"  
>"No, that can't be it…!"<br>"WAKE UP LITTLEFOOT!" Cera screamed. "Redback's no different! He might be backing out on this whole plan of theirs, but it was his idea from the start! He's no friend, he's nobody's friend!"

"YOU'RE WRONG!"

Littlefoot stood up, stamping towards the threehorn until they were snout to horn. "YOU LISTEN TO ME CERA! Redback is different! He and I are friends! He'd never turn on us! Can't you see that?...He might be a sharptooth, but he's like a brother to me…maybe even more than that…"  
>Littlefoot breathed heavy as he finished his tirade. Try as he did, he could not hide his feelings, as his eyes began to swim with tears. He bowed his head as he slumped back down on the ground, a particularly large, fat tear breaking and dropping to the earth with a gentle <em>plip.<em>

Cera was shocked. Despite everything Littlefoot had been through in his life, he was not one to let his emotions get the better of him. He'd get emotional, just like anyone, but to break down and cry? He had not done that in a very long time. She gently reached out a paw to comfort him. "Littlefoot…"

But Littlefoot knocked her paw away. He got up and headed towards the path through the trees. As he left, he turned to face Cera one more time.  
>"You never change." He said in a low voice, hitting harder than any shout. With that, he left Cera alone in the grove.<p>

She shook her head sadly. He really does like Redback, she thought to herself. He loves him like a brother, maybe more, he had said. Even if Redback had changed, she'd heard the other Blackweeds; he's good as dead!

She stood up. Her mind was racing, what to do?

Tell one of the grownups? No, that would lead to too many awkward questions, they'd take too long. Plus, she admitted to herself with a grin, she'd much prefer to get rid of those Blackweeds herself. She headed in the direction of Ducky's home. She'd have to gather the others. If they could get to the firepits and stop the Blackweeds themselves, so much would be avoided.

If not, the Valley might be doomed.


	6. Chapter 6: The Plan

Tears coursed through Littlefoot's eyes as he ran. They blurred his vision as he sprinted through the Valley, not speaking to anyone, not even acknowledging anyone as he ran. The pure emotion coursing through his whole body kept him going.

What Cera had said to him bit deeply. He did not want to believe the Blackweeds were evil. He refused to believe her words about their plan. The mix of sadness and fury kept him running.

But his body couldn't keep it up anymore. His limbs ached from the strain, and his breath was coming in ragged gasps. As he slowed down, he stumbled against a rock on the ground, sending him collapsing into a heap on the ground.  
>He laid there, spreadeagled on the grassy floor, his face drenched from tears. As the feeling returned to his limbs, he curled up on the ground, bringing his head closer to his body, coiling his tail around himself, eyes covered by his forepaws. His body twitched as the sadness overtook him and a fresh flow of tears began. A pitiful figure, tiny and alone.<p>

"Littlefoot?"

He raised his head, sniffling, as he heard his name called by a voice nearby. He looked up into the eyes of his old grandfather. The old longneck lowered his head to the ground, and gazed at his son, his face an expression of surprise and pity.

"What the matter?" He asked.

Littlefoot sniffled again, rubbing his reddened eyes gently "Oh…hi Grandpa."

"What happened Littlefoot? Why were you crying?"  
>"Don't worry about it…"<br>"Did someone hurt you?"

Littlefoot paused for a moment. Truth be told, someone did hurt him. Possibly several people, depending on what was true.

"H-hey Grandpa? Can I ask you something?" He looked up to his old grandfather.

He smiled in reply and nodded.

"You know how you and Grandma taught me the Wisdoms?"  
>"What about them?" Grandpa asked.<br>"Well, I need some more advice. Something the Wisdoms don't really cover..."

Grandpa nodded "What would you like to know?"

"Well, I'm always being told by people about when to trust my mind and my logic, and when to trust my instincts. But right now, I'm not so sure…"

"What's on your mind?" asked the old longneck as he sat down by his grandson.

Littlefoot gulped, his emotions calming down "Well, I have this friend… He's, sort of…unusual. I really like him, but the others don't really trust him."

"Why wouldn't they trust him?" Grandpa asked, his suspicions beginning to grow.  
>"Well… He's… Not really one of us. I just dunno what to think." Littlefoot mused, glad he had someone he could talk to "They told me that I shouldn't be friends with him, but we get along well, and he seems really nice."<p>

Littlefoot looked down, surprised on his own musings "Deep down inside, I know he's good, though… I'm just mixed up is all."

As he finished, Grandpa Longneck raised his head, closing his eyes in thought. It had been a long time since he had had to give advice on such an issue.

"Hmm. You know, Littlefoot, I've heard such a story before."

The young longneck raised his head, his curiosity aroused "Really?...What happened?"

The old longneck smiled as he remembered the story, clear as day "Well, a young longneck came to me, with the very same problem. She had a friend whom she loved greatly, but her friends didn't like him. They thought he was a troublemaker.  
>But when she came to me for advice, I told her that she shouldn't let what other people think get in the way of friendship. If a dinosaur loves something or someone, then nobody else has the right to take that away from them. If it leads them to happiness, a person should always follow their heart."<p>

"Wow…" Littlefoot was greatly moved by the story. " So, what happened to the longneck girl?"

"Well, she took my advice, and followed her heart. She and her friend grew closer and closer, falling more and more in love, until they became adults, and became husband and wife. They lived a good life together, eventually having an egg, which hatched to become you."

It took a moment for his words to register with Littlefoot. As realisation dawned on his face, his eyes widened. "You mean…that longneck girl was…"

"Your mother…yes. When she first met your father Bron, he was a regular rebel. But she loved him just the same. After he left to find a new home for our family, she'd tell me, not a day had passed where she regretted her decision." Grandpa related, his eyes becoming misty from rumination. He blinked back a slight tear at the memory of his fallen daughter and turned his gaze back to his grandson "Do you understand, Littlefoot?"

The young longneck mulled over what he had learnt in his mind. He smiled as he pictured his father as a rebellious youth, getting into trouble with the elders, not unlike himself. But he took his grandfather's words to heart. Whatever his friends said about Redback, he knew that he was a good creature. Maybe the other Blackweeds were malicious and cruel, and what Cera said was partially true, but he knew Redback was different. He saw it every time he looked into those big, crimson eyes. They betrayed a desire for home, for friendship. For love.

"Yeah, thanks Grandpa." Littlefoot said, standing up. He wiped any trace of tears from his eyes and took a deep breath. He nodded to his grandfather as he made to leave. But his voice rang out with one more question.

"One moment Littlefoot? Before you go, I must ask you. This friend of yours; when you say that he's 'not really one of us', what do you mean by that? Just what, exactly, is he like?"

He gulped as he heard this question. He turned around to face his grandfather, who wore a mixed expression of curiosity and stern paternal command. He faltered under his gaze, scuffing the dirt guiltily. No way out of it, he thought. I might as well tell him.

"Well…erm… He's…Well, he's a…"

He was suddenly cut off by an ear-piercing scream, somewhere off near the Tall Trees. Littlefoot's face grew pale with realisation. Cera had mentioned the Tall Trees in the Blackweed's plan…  
>"What on earth was…" Grandpa made to ask, before an odour on the air caught his attention.<p>

He sniffed the breeze, and his eyes grew wide in horror "Oh no…I can smell something burning. Littlefoot, hurry back to our sleeping spot, tell Grandma! I'm going to take a look into this."

The old longneck got up and hurried in the direction of the scream, his footsteps shaking the earth.  
>Littlefoot got up and hurried back towards the grove where he stayed, when a thought took him. What if the Blackweeds were really behind this? He had to know!<p>

Turning around, he sprinted as fast as he could, through the dense grasses and bushes. He knew another route to the Tall trees that would get him there without Grandpa seeing him. It was also faster for someone of his size.  
>He ran with all his might, the smell of burning wood growing stronger with every bound. As he cleared the bushes nearing the Trees, he saw a sight that made his stomach turn upside down.<p>

There, lying before him, were the still forms of Cera, Ducky and Chomper. The threehorn girl lay on her side, her horns tipped with dried blood, her side bleeding from a massive gash. Ducky lay by her side, equally scratched and battered. Chomper lay spread-eagled a few feet away, his claws and teeth covered in blood, his left eye blackened, and patches of skin torn from his tail.  
>Tears welling in his eyes, Littlefoot approached the still forms of his dear friends. Resting his head on Cera's chest, the tears fell as he envisioned the scene in his mind. Cera must have attempted to stop the Brotherhood herself, perhaps with some help from the others. They might have put up a good fight, but they were up against a fast runner, a belly dragger, and a flyer, all half-grown, and no doubt with more fighting experience than all his friends combined. The others must have either followed them, or fled.<p>

He opened his eyes as he felt his head move up. Just a tiny movement, but big enough to notice. He felt it again, and his heart leapt. They were alive!  
>He withdrew his head and watched as he saw Cera's body expand slightly, as her lungs worked feebly. She wasn't dead after all, but she was certainly unconscious. He gazed with relief as he saw signs of life in the others.<p>

Then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw a shadow move through the smoke, now emanating from the trees in great billows. He looked around, and saw a large group of the elders hurrying towards the forest, Grandpa and Grandma leading, side by side with the Threehorns and Mama Flyer.  
>He left his friends' side, knowing that the grownups would find them quickly, and ran in the direction he saw the shadowed figure go. He followed along the outskirts of the Trees, when he saw the figure again, clearer now, apparently carrying something in their arms. Something glowing.<p>

He skidded to a halt as he watched Celya and Tero emerging from the trees, each carrying a burning branch in their claws. Littlefoot watched from behind a bush, terrified, as he saw them touching the flames to the nearby bushes and the low foliage of the trees, which instantly caught alight. Littlefoot noted that both seemed to have their fair share of injuries and wounds, including scratches across the eyes and body, even a few puncture marks, no doubt from Cera's horns. Tero also had a slight hint of bite marks around his chest. Chomper's teeth in action.  
>"Alright, Tero. I got things here. You go get started on the other spot." Celya said, giggling to herself as she tossed the burning branch into the Trees, setting the grass and brush alight, sending pillars of smoke into the air.<p>

Tero nodded and dropped his branch for a moment, then clamping onto it with his footclaws. He made to take off, when he heard a coughing noise from the undergrowth. He turned his emerald gaze on the bush and parted the leaves, revealing Littlefoot.

"Oh, hey kid!" Celya called, waving chirpily "Glad to see you're still around. We could do with a snack after we're done here."

With that, she returned into the foliage of the Tall Trees, while Tero took one more look at Littlefoot, before taking to the sky, his burning branch in his claws.

Littlefoot could not believe what he had seen. Cera had been right. Everything she had said was true. The Blackweeds really did intend to destroy the Great Valley.  
>His shock turned to shame as he remembered his outburst at Cera. He had let his emotions get in the way, and now he was paying the price.<p>

Littlefoot then heard the shocked cries of the grownups nearby. Certainly a combination of seeing the Tall Trees in flame, and seeing their children injured and unconscious. He hurried away from the forest, desperate to do something. But Celya was back inside the forest, and Tero was on his way to the other trees already. He'd never be able to catch them.

A sudden rumble came from nearby, as the ground shook underfoot. Too small to be an earthshake, it must be a landslide, Littlefoot thought.

He hurried in the direction of the rumble and before long, he was at the base of a great heap of stone and rubble. His stomach churned again as he saw the tiny, twitching form of an arm, broken and bleeding, poking out from beneath the rubble.

Another strange noise flowed to Littlefoot's ears. Above the screams of shock and terror now coming form al over the Valley, he heard a muffled sound nearby. A voice, not quite broken, gentle and sad.

He followed the sound, away from the grisly landslide, to a rocky copse, halfway up the Great Wall. As it came into view, he saw the hunched figure of Redback, sitting on the ground. Weeping.

Littlefoot approached, not sure what may be going on "Erm…R-Redback?"

The sailbacked sharptooth raised his head to look at Littlefoot. The once majestic and fierce-looking leader of the Brotherhood now looked pitiful. The tears streaming from his eyes mingled with the inky black paint around his eyes, staining his cheeks with black streaks. His eyes were reddened from crying, and his snout and cheeks bore scratch marks.

"Oh, Littlefoot…" Redback said, his voice cracked with grief "I'm so sorry…Really…So, so sorry…"

A fresh deluge of tears overcame Redback, who buried his head in his arms. Set against the backdrop of the Great Valley, now with fires springing up all over the place, smoke billowing into the air, it was one of the most moving, and most pathetic things Littlefoot had ever seen.

He moved to stand by Redback, and put a reassuring paw on his shoulder. He could feel his body quivering, twitching with each sob.  
>"Why this? Redback, Why are they destroying the Valley?...Why?"<p>

The sharptooth returned his teary-eyed gaze to Littlefoot. He paused, before suddenly crying "Because it was my idea, Littlefoot! I'm responsible for this!"

Littlefoot was stunned. His eyes grew wide as he looked at his large friend. "What…do you mean?"


	7. Chapter 7: Advice of the Elder

Redback lowered his head in shame. Nowhere to hide now. His voice quavered as he fought back the tears.

"I mean exactly what I said. This whole th-thing... The Blackweed B-Brotherhood, the fires, the rockslides... I devised it all..."

Littlefoot was once again frozen with shock.

"You see, Littlefoot... I haven't exactly been honest with y-you about the Brotherhood..."

He sniffed and turned to face the Valley, hanging his legs over the side of the cliff, watching the harsh glow of the fires springing up everywhere.

"Truth is, we're all just a big fraud. Sharpteeth don't fear our name...they don't even know it..."

Littlefoot ventured closer "B-but...All those stories you told... The fast biter pack... The Black Mountain Monster..."

"All lies!" Redback cried "We made them all up. We never fought off a herd of fast-biters, no-one could! The Blackweeds aren't some sort of warrior clan, or a secret society or anything… We're nothin' but a gang of bored teenagers."

"…But why?" Littlefoot asked "Why'd you tell us all these stories? Were you just trying to impress us?"

The sharptooth nodded "Pretty much... We…We wanted to impress you guys so you'd trust us... It was all part of our plan..."

He buried his head in his claws once more. Littlefoot was unsure how to react. Had Redback ever been honest with him? Was he even being honest right now? He sat down at his side, the heat from the blaze below warming his face.

"What plan?"

Redback raised his head again, took a deep intake of breath and turned to face Littlefoot. The longneck gulped at the expression in his eyes.

"Our plan, the Blackweed's plan, right from the start. We wanted to get inside the Great Valley, get close to the inhabitants... It's the same every time.  
>We find someone in the area willing to trust us, to take us in. We use them to get to know the area better, and then..."<p>

He gulped, tears welling in his eyes, before continuing.

"...And then, we destroy the place!"

The tears overflowed in the sharptooth's eyes, as Littlefoot looked on in horror. Had he been used this whole time?

"D-destroy the place?... But why?" Littlefoot asked fearfully "What do you get out of destroying these places?"

"Fun."

The longneck's stomach overturned, as he blanched in horror. "...Fun?"

Redback nodded "Yep... It's just a pastime for us..." He turned his head in shame. He could never face Littlefoot again "Pretty sickening, huh?"

A brief moment of silence passed between the pair, save for the screams and roars from below them, and the crackling of burning trees and the rumble of rockslides.

"How can you...?" Littlefoot ventured, but was cut off by Redback.

"Well, I don't!…A-at least, not anymore... I-I guess I let the other pressure me into going through with it."

"They pressure _you_?" Littlefoot was forced to grin slightly at the thought of this. Redback was the biggest of the Blackweed Brotherhood! He's the leader! How could the others pressure him?

But Redback was serious "Yep...Especially Tero. He scares me... He's the only one of them who doesn't seem to enjoy...this." He waved a clawed hand over the view of the Valley.

"But he still does it. It's not like he's pressured to or anything, he doesn't find it fun, he doesn't even show any emotion. He just sort of… does it, for the sake of doing it... Of all the creatures in all the places I've been, nobody scared me more than him. He's just never been the same since his accident with the fast-biter."

"But I thought you said..."

"No" Redback replied "No, that part was true. He really did lose his leg and his voice to a fast biter. But we never finished it off, we never even fought it! We just picked him up and ran... Like we always do.  
>Hrrmmm... I've seen terrible things done by this plan... And done them myself, too..."<p>

He shuddered as his memory cast back to the last few times he had initiated this plan. Smiling as he and his Brotherhood burned down forests and plains. Cheering as he watched rockslides consume homes, and their inhabitants.

Laughing as he squeezed the life out of a young longneck, not much older than Littlefoot, before throwing her limp, lifeless body into a firepit. Lifeless, or so he had thought. The scream, and the stench of her burning flesh were fresh in his senses, as if happening right before him.

As Redback shrunk back in fear as his crimes and atrocities flashed before his eyes, Littlefoot was becoming more and more afraid of being around Redback. It was like he was a completely different person.

But before he had a chance to move away, Redback a firm hand on Littlefoot's back, pinning him in place. The longneck tried to wriggle out of it, but He froze in fear as Redback lowered his face to his, so that they were almost snout to snout.

"But Littlefoot, trust me when I say this... And this is the honest to the Bright Circle truth... I never wanted this to happen here. And you know why?"

Littlefoot shook his head, too afraid to speak.

"Because you were here."

The words took a moment to sink in for Littlefoot, but when they did, he still did not understand.

"What do you mean? What do I have to do with this all?"

Redback's teary-eyed gaze suddenly broke into a gentle, serene smile "It was you who showed me what it was really like to live here. You showed me these other dinosaurs, living together, sleeping together... A place where different species can live together in peace. After that night when you showed me the Valley, I could never destroy such a place. Before, I've never had much of a chance to see how the dinosaurs live in their homes before we destroy it.

"But that's not all... You showed me kindness. You took me in, treated me like a guest in your Valley, treated me well. Truth is, you're the first real friend I've ever had."

Littlefoot was not prepared for what happened next. The hand holding him in his place suddenly pushed him towards Redback, who wrapped his arms around him in a gentle embrace.

"I couldn't stand a world without you, Littlefoot. I couldn't go on with the plan if it meant putting you in harm's way! You mean...too much to me..."

"R-Redback..."

Littlefoot could feel the warmth of Redback's body wrapping him in a caring hug. He could also feel the gigantic sharptooth quivering. This massive monster, shaking like a leaf. He was upset. He was afraid. It was too much to bear.

Tears welling up in his eyes as well, Littlefoot placed a comforting paw on Redback's arm, hugging back as best a quadruped could. Littlefoot had grown equally close to Redback in the time they spent together, regarding him as a friend, a brother... but it was a surprise to find the feeling was mutual.

"But you're their leader. Can't you just...tell them to stop?" Littlefoot asked gently.

Redback shook his head "Not a chance. Once they get started, they'll never stop until they finish the job.  
>I'm sorry, Littlefoot. So, so sorry. But there's nothing we can do..."<p>

His voice broke into gentle sobbing. Littlefoot felt like crying now as well, but he was all cried out already. He was all out of tears, so he settled for a dry sobbing.

The pair sat there on the ledge, weeping together in eachother's arms, as the Valley burned below them. The fires had spread through much of the Tall Trees, the groves around the fast water, the pools. The only area untouched was the patch of trees near the Thundering Falls, which remained damp and unburnt from the spray.

"Yes there is."

Redback opened his eyes "Pardon?"

"I said there is something we can do." Littlefoot replied, standing up. Determination burned in his eyes as his face became grim and certain. "My friends are still down there. My family too. I'm not going to abandon them like this. Not while I have strength left."

Littlefoot grasped his blackweeds in his teeth. With a sudden stretch, he tore the grass from his neck in one go. Spitting them to the ground, he headed towards the stone walkway that led from the ridge, back down to the ground. He turned back to Redback.

"C'mon Redback. I'll need your help if I'm gonna stop this. You know how these guys work. You said yourself, it was your idea. Lead the way… Brother."

Redback stood up. Even after all this, even after confessing that destroying the Valley was his idea, Littlefoot was still willing to give him a chance! He nodded, a grim smile forming on his face.

"Alright" He said, with a hint of a growl "Climb aboard. It's time to end this."  
>Littlefoot clambered to his usual spot, clinging to Redback's neck and sitting just before his sail. He held on tight as Redback started walking.<p>

His walking sped up into a trot.

His trot turned into a gallop.

His gallop turned into a sprint.

Suddenly, Redback raised his head, letting forth a massive, fearful roar!

"!"

He sped down the ridge, past rockslides, past fires, towards the gap in the Great Wall. Determination in his heart and fury in his veins.

The battle to save the Valley had begun.


	8. Chapter 8: RedWrath

"Hurry! Get everyone away from the trees!"

"We must head upwind of the fires! That way!"

"Three-boulder Pass has collapsed!"

"Keep away from the opening! Sharpteeth could come through any second!"

Threehorn and Grandpa Longneck's commanding voices rang out above the cacophony overthrowing the Valley. Standing either end of the opening in the Great Wall, along with Mr. Clubtail, Thicknose and Hyp's father, they shouted out orders to the panicking dinosaurs around them.

"It's not safe here! Get your families together and move it!" Topsy shouted to a nearby herd of Spiketails. They promptly hurried about, gathering whoever they could find, and heading to higher ground.

"Topsy, we need to go, now!"

Tria galloped to Topsy's side, Tricia perched on her neck, with Cera by her side. She had regained consciousness, but was still injured, and too groggy to walk.

Topsy shook his head "You girls go ahead! I still have to stay here, the other herds need me!"

Tricia looked as if she was going to argue, but she knew there was no use. He was stubborn and unmovable on a good day! Plus, she needed to get Cera somewhere safe to recover.  
>Nodding, she called a quick "Hold on!" to the two threehorn girls on her back, and took off at a dogtrot in the direction all the other dinosaurs were heading, towards the higher ledges on the Great Wall.<p>

The old threehorn watched his family go, silently begging that they would be safe. He also made a mental note to personally dismember whoever or whatever had attacked Cera.

"I think that's everyone in this area!" Grandpa Longneck called, as he approached Topsy "What now then, old friend?"

But before he could answer, there came a mighty roar from not far away. Savage and feral, it sounded like nothing either of the old dinosaurs had ever heard inside the Great Valley before.

"Sharpteeth? But how...?"

"I know... you and I have been guarding the opening, and nothing's gotten through... You don't think there could be another opening?"

Longneck shook his head "Couldn't be. We'd have seen it or heard it by now!"

Any further thought was cut short as the ground began to shake underfoot. A disturbance in the nearby trees caught their attention, and the source of the noise emerged.

Sprinting full pelt out of the trees there emerged a strange dinosaur, the likes of which neither dinosaur had ever seen. Not very large, it appeared to have a similar body to a belly-dragger, but its head was very different, similar in design to a regular sharptooth, with a double-line of spikes going down its back. On its back, a smaller dinosaur was perched, not much bigger than Ducky, but with a much sleeker build, and a sharper face. Definitely a fast-biter of some kind, and a female.  
>The pair both had a strange sort of black grass covering their bodies, tied around their necks, wrapped around their limbs. The pair skidded to a halt as they breached into the clearing, glancing around furtively. But a second fearsome roar from behind them sent them running through the clearing and back into the trees on the other side.<p>

Littlefoot held on as best he could to Redback's neck. The sinews and muscles pulsed under the sharptooth's skin as he moved, fatigue and injury meaning nothing to him.

As they breached the trees, they found themselves by the opening in the Great Wall. A group of dinosaurs were gathered nearby the opening, apparently keeping guard, but at the speed they were moving, Littlefoot couldn't tell who they were.

Redback paused for a moment and sniffed the air. Through the dust and smoke, the odour of the Blackweeds was unmistakable. Baring his teeth in a snarl, he took off again after Celya and Rheddo.

As the pair hurried past the opening, Littlefoot looked back at the opening and his eyes widened as he spotted among the dinosaurs, his grandfather. He felt his eyes meet Grandpa's, before they passed the opening by, entering the trees again.

The group of older dinosaurs stood rooted to the spot, shocked by what they had just seen. First those two young sharpteeth who had somehow gotten into the Valley, and then that... that monster!

"...The heck was that?"

"How did those sharpteeth get in here? You said yourself, we've been guarding the opening!"

"What if there's more of them?"

Grandpa Longneck, however, took off after them without a word.

"What are you doing, Longneck!" Topsy called after him.

The old longneck looked back as he trotted as fast as he could "Didn't you see? My Littlefoot was on the back of that sharptooth! Something's up with those ones!"

Topsy hurried after his old friend. A sudden thought set him in motion: What if these sharpteeth had something to do with Cera?

"You three stay here and guard the opening!" He called back to the remaining dinosaurs by the entrance, running faster to catch up to Longneck.

The three remaining dinosaurs watched in puzzlement as Threehorn and Longneck trotted off after the sharptooth. Not one of them noticed the cloud of dust, rising in the distance behind them...

Rheddo skidded to a halt as they exited the grove of trees.

"We gotta lose 'em." Celya shouted at him "That crazy sharptooth looked like he'd lost it!"

"Ya mean more than usual?" Rheddo replied. He lowered his voice as he asked "Ya don't think it's the Redwrath again?"

"Looked like it. You couldn't have seen, but I got a good look at his face... Definitely Redwrath."

Rheddo scurried to the other side of the grove, to gain a little more distance "Huh, haven't heard of that for a while. No chance we'll lose him if he's under the Wrath."

"We gotta finish him for good. Then we can meet up with Tero and enjoy the show from his spot."

"Right, I can see it from here; it should be quick enough to get there" He pointed to a ledge on the Great Wall just on the other side of the trees. "You got a plan then?" Rheddo lowered his head, letting the fast-biter slide off his back.

"How about this," Celya began "You stay here and keep him busy, meanwhile I'll..."

But her words were cut short as a boulder the size of a threehorn's head came sailing through the air, slamming into Celya like a cannonball. She was sent reeling a few feet, until she became sandwiched between the rock and a nearby tree trunk. She slid down the trunk like a broken doll and lay still.

Rheddo turned in horror as he saw Redback stampeding into the grove, a second boulder in hand.

"YOU'RE NEXT!" Roared the sharptooth as he hurled the rock at Rheddo.

The belly dragger dodged out of the way, catching the rock on the tip of his tail. He shrieked in pain, but fell silent as he saw the expression on Redback's face.

His eyes, once shining and a delicate shade of red, almost pink, had glazed over in a dull, solid crimson. No emotion showed in his eyes save raw, uninhibited rage. His teeth were bared in a permanent snarl, dripping saliva, hungry for battle.

No question about it. The Redwrath has overcome him, Rheddo thought as he prepared to charge.

"Redback!"

Littlefoot staggered into the grove, slightly bruised and battered. Redback's bucking body had become increasingly difficult to hold onto, until finally Littlefoot lost any grip and dropped off. He tumbled along on the ground a few feet and stopped.  
>But the sharptooth had just kept running. He had not stopped for his friend, he didn't even seem to notice! He just kept following Rheddo and Celya.<br>As Littlefoot entered the grove, he saw in shock the limp body of Celya, her body broken by the boulder. He was astounded by the size of the rock itself; even for a sharptooth of Redback's size, it would be nearly impossible to throw it that far!

"STAY BACK, LITTLEFOOT!" Growled Redback as he heard the longneck's voice.

"But Redback, we have to keep going... The longer we..."

"I SAID STAY BACK!"

Redback turned his head to face Littlefoot. The expression on his face froze the young dinosaur on the spot. What had come over him? What had happened to his eyes?

Redback squinted through the red mist that clouded his mind and vision. He saw Rheddo, pacing like a cornered animal, poised to strike. Why was he holding his ground here? What was he defending?  
>He looked beyond the belly-dragger and above the treeline. There he saw him.<p>

Just visible through his clouded vision, the unmistakably skinny, gaunt form of Tero was standing on that ledge, viewing the carnage from the perfect vantage point.

Redback had little time to muse on such a matter though, as Rheddo charged headlong into his stomach, knocking the wind clean out of him.  
>The pair fell to the ground, claws slashing, teeth gnashing. Rheddo wrapped his thin body around Redback, biting his arm clean through to the bone.<br>Redback roared in pain and anger, pummeling Rheddo in the head with his free arm.  
>The fighters broke apart, Rheddo reeling from the barrage of punches. Getting to his feet, he bared a clawed hand, lunging forth at Redback once! Twice!<p>

Redback grabbed the belly-dragger by the neck, kicking out with a clawed foot, scoring three deep gashes into his opponent's leg.

Rheddo screeched again in pain, biting down as hard as he could on Redback's arm again. But no matter what kind of wound he inflicted, it was as if nothing was sinking in! He was shaking off the worst of wounds as if they were nothing!

But his musings were cut short as Redback's massive jaws closed around his head. A sickening crunch was the last thing the belly-dragger heard before darkness fell.

Throwing away the headless body of Rheddo, Redback spat out the severed head and turned, panting, to look at Littlefoot.

The longneck had never seen such a terrifying sight. He had watched fights between dinosaurs before, but nothing as brutal and bloody as this! Most times, the victor would be content with a retreat, or fending off their enemy, but this was a no-holes-barred fight to the death!

"R...Redback...?"

The sharptooth turned on the terrified young longneck, teeth bared, blood dripping from his chops.

"Redback! It's me! It's Littlefoot!" He cried, backing away.

Redback stopped. Shaking his head, he rubbed his eyes as if awakening from a long sleep. The red tinge of his eyes retreated back, clearing his vision.

"Uhhh...Oh, Littlefoot...erm..."

"What was that, Redback?" Littlefoot asked, shocked over the sudden change in his friend "Your eyes went all cloudy and red, you went all crazy..."

"I'm, uh, sorry you had to see that..." Redback said, wringing his hands bashfully "Y'see, whenever I get particularly angry, or get into a fight or somethin'... Well, I kinda change, like you saw. I can barely control what I do, and my vision all goes red... Me and the Brotherhood called it my RedWrath... But it hasn't happened for a long time..."

Littlefoot nodded, becoming very nervous.

"Littlefoot, I have to warn ya. If you ever see me go like that again... do yourself a favour: get behind me and fast."

He nodded again "A-are you okay now, then?"

Redback smiled "Yeah, I'm fine now... Now, if you'll excuse me, I have something I gotta do..."

He breathed deeply and headed in the direction of the Great Wall and the ledge. Littlefoot watched as he went.

"Erm, Redback... What about my friends?"

"Look, Littlefoot..." Redback called back in a serious tone "I know that for you, finding your friends will be top priority. But right now, all I want to do is find Tero and make him suffer."

Littlefoot gulped "But how will I find my friends in all this chaos? They could be anywhere in the Valley!"

"The little sharptooth, the threehorn and the swimmer are all with their families. When I was on that ledge, I saw their parents find them and take them upwind of the fires. They're probably fine.  
>As for the others, I'll bet Tero's got them up on that ledge with him. Hostages or somethin', you know."<p>

"Well...then I'm going with you!" Littlefoot said, stamping a foot down.

"It'll be dangerous, Littlefoot. You dunno what Tero's like in a pinch..."

But the longneck was adamant "I don't care! If that's where my friends are, I'm going up there to get them!"

A dangerous grin grew on Redback's face "Alright then. Hop on and we'll go up there together."

Littlefoot clambered onto Redback's neck once again, and the pair took off in the direction of the ledge.

Littlefoot looked back and saw that just as they had passed out of the grove, the pursuing adults had entered.  
>The old pair skidded to a halt as Grandpa Longneck saw the carnage that had occurred.<p>

"Good heavens!" was all he could say, so shocked was he. Mr Threehorn stood by his side, his face visibly pale.

"What d'you suppose happened here?" the threehorn asked.


	9. Chapter 9: Confrontation

Far above the Valley, on a ridge sticking out from the Great Wall, four figures watched as the Great Valley fell into chaos and destruction.

Tero stood back from the edge, overseeing the fruit of his work. Wherever Rheddo and Celya were, they had done an excellent job. Over in the southern end of the Valley, the fires had nearly consumed the entire forest, while a rockslide near the Thundering Falls had blocked the flow of any water into the Valey, aiding the spread of the inferno. But where could they be, the mute flyer thought to himself. Ah well, it doesn't matter. They've done their job now, he didn't need them anymore.

But on the end of the ledge, three sets of young eyes watched in horror and despair as their home was destroyed. Ruby, Petrie and Spike lay on their fronts, each with a small boulder placed on their backs; too small to crush them, but heavy enough to keep them down and stop them moving. Ruby and Petrie struggled desperately against the weight, but to no avail. Spike had aready passed out from sheer exhaustion of trying to free himself.  
>Her voice cracking from exhaustion and grief, Ruby once again turned to Tero and did her best to appeal to him:<p>

"Please...Tero...Whatever you're doing this for, you don't have to do it! Just let us go, please!" she begged. All Tero did in response was to press down on her boulder, crushing her more. Ruby pounded the ground with a clenched fist, squealing in agony.

But the torture was brief, as a movement nearby caught Tero's attention. A shadowed form was approaching from the other end of the ledg. Squinting in thedim light of te flames, Tero could just about make out the shape of the approaching crature.

His faced grew pale in the light as he recognised Redback's unmistakeable form sprinting in his direction. He jumped back and staggered back as he heard the sharptooth's roar calling his name:

"TEEEEERRRROOOOOO!"

Reback leapt up onto the ledge, panting with exertion and rage. Blood dripped gently from the myriad of wounds that covered his body, mingling with his sweat and tears. Bloodlust shone in his eyes, even though the RedWrath had subsided, and saliva dripped from his mouth, which hung open panting and snarling.

Tero backed away from the fearsome sight, his blank visage betrayed by his quivering legs.

"It ends now, Tero. Yer finished!" Redback growled.

The flyer's mind was racing. He had not anticipated Redback returning. Looking about frantically, he turned to face Redback as the sailbacked sharptooth chuckled.

"Ferget it, winghead. Rheddo and Celya won't be rushing to yer aid anytime soon."

Tero's eyes widened slightly as the truth dawned on him.

"Yeah, you got it," Redback said "I took care of those traitors before I got here. The Blackweed Brotherhood is finished, Tero."

He slowly moved towards he flyer, his face grim and stern. Tero moved swiftly, aking to the air, hovering just above the boulder that lay atop the weeping Ruby.

"Tero, what're you doing?" Redback asked "What do you want these kids for?"

As Redback made to approach further, Tero touched down ontop of the boulder, just above Ruby's head. The extra weight shfited the pressure of the boulder, which began to press down on the young fast-runner's skull.

Ruby's muffled screams rang out as her face was pressed into the ground, mingling with Petrie's shrill voice.

"Stop it! You leave me friend alone! No press on boulder anymore! STOP!"

Tero bent over, bringing his head closer to Petrie, and gave him a thin, raspy "shh!"

Redback was about to make his move, when one was made right under his snout.

"YOU LEAVE MY FRIENDS ALOOOOOONE!"

Littlefoot sprinted forwards from between Redback's legs, head held forwards like a battering ram. As he aproached the flyer, he leapt into the air, cannoning into Tero and knocking him clear off the rock!

Redback took the opportunity and leapt opver the boulders as well, "Littlefoot! You get your friends!"

The longneck got up from where he landed, a few feet from the stunned Tero and hurried over to the boulders imprisoning the three young dinosaurs.

"Littlefoot! Oh, Petrie never been so glad to see you!" Petrie cried with relief as the longneck shoved the rock off of his back. Together, they assisted Ruby and Spike and got rid of the offending boulders.

Redback stood inbetween Littlefoot and Tero, who was just getting up "Now you young 'uns get outta here! Go help yer families or something!"

Spike, Petrie and Ruby obediently hurried towards the way down, but Littlefoot hung back.

"You sure you'll be okay? I could help if..."

"No Littlefoot!" Redback shouted back, turning to face his young friend "Sorry, but ths is something I gotta do myself."

The longneck was about to say something, when he saw the familiar red tinge beginning to clud the sharptooth's eyes. Littlefoot then silently nodded and hurried off.

As he hopped down from the ledge, Littlefoot looked back as his friend. A small tear formed in the corner of his eye, and the longneck shook it off.

"Stay safe, please.", he prayed as he hurried to catch up with his friends.

Redback snorted like a bull as he watched Tero shake his head clear. Charging forwards, he grabbed Tero around his twisted leg, just as the flyer attempted to fly away.

"Oh no ya don't!"

Tero grimaced as pain shot from the scars in his leg up his body. Redback swung at him with his free hand and scored a deep scratch in Tero's shoulder. he retaliated with a swift barrage of punches from each fist, and a clawed kick with his free leg. This kick caught Redback in the snout, which sent the sharptooth reeling slightly, making him let go of the flyer.

Shaking the blood from his nostrils, Redback roared as he saw Tero taking to the sky.

"COME BACK HERE, YOU COWARD!" he roared as he ran after he flyer, jumping from the top of the ledge.

Tero looked down at his opponent running below him. There was no way he could get rid of him in open combat, he was just too strong!  
>But as he flew over a patch of trees on the fringe of the blaze, an idea struck him. His thin mouth curved ever so lightly into a tight grin as he formulated a plan.<p>

Flapping down to the trees, he dove through the dense foliage, gritting his beak as branches and twigs scratched and prodded at him.  
>He then arched his back in pain as, just as he was clearing the branches and nearing the ground, a rogue sliver of broken branch stabbed straight through his right wing. As he fell, his weight pulled his wing downwards on the sliver, tearing the delicate membrane of his wings right from its base below his arm, to its edge.<p>

He landed on the ground in an undignified heap, in a small clearing, near to where the fires were eating away at the woods. Gritting through the intense pain that wracked his his whole body, he got to his feet and limped towards the glow of the fire.  
>He nodded with satisfaction as he found just what he needed. A fallen branch, partially ablaze at its knobbly tip. The flyer picked up the branch from the other end, gripping it in both claws.<p>

He froze as he heard movement behind him. Squinting through the darkness of the trees, he saw the giant sillouhette of Redback entering the trees. Tero silently padded towards a nearby tree with an enormous trunk. Standing with his back to the trunk, he held his breath, gripping his improvised mace to his chest, ready to strike when the sharptooth followed his scent over here.

His heavy footfalls betrayed Redback's every move.

_Stomp stomp stomp_. He had just entered the clearing.

_Stomp stomp stomp_. He was just on the other side of the tree.

Tero shuddered with excitement, closing his eyes. Just one chance, that's all he'd need. Just one opening, and he'd snuff the sharptooth's life out with a well-aimed swing of his fiery club.

_Stomp. Stomp. Stomp._He had just walked past the trunk. It was now or never!

Tero rushed out, club held high, wound up and ready to strike!

He swung!

But the strike never made contact. Opening his eyes, Tero saw nothing but trees.

"Behind you, idiot."

Tero froze in fear, his green eyes growing wide with fright. He felt the rough clawed hand of Redback reach from behind and close around his neck. He dropped his club as his arms went limp with fear.

The sharptooth lifted Tero close, almost snout to beak, as he looked his old friend in the eye. His fearsome, red eyes gazed deep into Tero's, as if looking straight into his very soul.  
>The flyer gulped slightly, as he opened his beak, speaking in the raspy, hoarse voice that no creature had heard for years:<p>

"...M-mer...mercy!"

His eyes had been so focused on Redback's that he never saw the other hand reach out and grab his head. A shuder went through the flyer's body as Redback snarled at him. The flyer had never really noticed how big Redback's teeth were before.

"You really think you deserve mercy? After everything you've put me and my friends through? After you betrayed me?"

Redback held Tero up high, one hand around his neck, the other gripping his head.

"Forget it."

Then, there was a sickening "CRACK!", and Redback felt the flyer's body go limp. He let go, and Tero's lifeless body slumped to the floor, like a ragdoll.

His leg was twisted, his wings were shredded.

His neck was snapped.

Redback took a deep intake of breath, and felt the rage and fury searing through his body subside as he breathed out.

His scratched snout twitched as he felt a droplet of water bounce off it. Looking up, he saw clouds moving across the sky, bringing with them a gentle shower of skywater.

He suddenly felt an involuntary smile break out across his face. Opening his arm wide, he shivered as the cold water covered him, dripping off his limbs and sail, clearing the mud, grime and blood that caked his body.

It was over. It was finally over.


	10. Chapter 10: Cleanup

"LITTLEFOOT!"

Tears of relief burst from the old longneck's eyes as he saw his grandson running full gallop towards him.

"Grandpa!" Littlefoot cried as he came to a halt by his grandfather's lowered head. The pair embraced with joy, each glad that the other was still alive.

"Oh Littlefoot! Your grandma and I were so worried!" He said.

Littlefoot stepped back "Sorry Grandpa..."

He paused for a moment, but found that he had nothing more to say. He hugged Grandpa Longneck again as Topsy joined his side. Not far behind were Mamas Flyer and Swimmer, who wept with relief as they saw their children safe and sound. Petrie flew into his mother's arms, hugging her tightly as Spike affectionately rubbed himself against Mama swimmer, who hugged him back. Even Ruby was't left out, hugged by both mothers. Her back still ached from the boulder that had almost crushed her, but she didn't care. She was just relieved to be among friendly dinosaurs again.

The reunited parents and children could have embraced there in the gentle rain for hours upon end, but the moment was interrupted by the sudden appearance of Mr Clubtail.

"Longneck! Threehorn! We need some help back at the Opening!"

Grandpa opened his eyes "Really? Lead the way!"

Hyp's father persed his lips in anxiety as he watched the approaching cloud of dust, clearly visible through the opening in the Great Wall. he heard the sound of footsteps behind him and was relieved to see the group returning.

"Not a moment too soon! We got incoming out in the Beyond!" he called, pointing out the opening.

Topsy squinted through the rain, watching the faraway stampede growing closer and closer.

"Looks like Fast-biters, and alot of them!" He grunted. "They must have seen the opening when the Wall collapsed!"

He beckoned the other dinosaurs to follow him, and the group hurried to the top of the ridge, just above the opening. Looking over the damage, he thought for a moment.

"Find as much rubble and rocks as you can and pile it all up here, and on the other end of the opening!"

"What's your plan?" Longneck asked, with Littlefoot now perched on his head.

"We're gonna seal up the opening again. If we hurry we can get it closed up before those fast-biters get here!"

And so the dinosaurs went diligently to work. Thanks to the recent chaos and carnage, rubble was in no short supply. Soon a massive heap of rock, dirt, branches and rubble was piled at either end of the opening.

"Good, now you lot get down to the opening. If this doesn't work, we'll need someone down there to hold them off! Clubtail, you go to the other pile and get ready to push!"

Clubtail nodded and went as fast as he could to the pile opposite Topsy's. Meanwhile, the other dinosaurs formed a row from one end of the opening to the other, down on the ground. Standing their ground, they watched as the forms of running creatures became apparent in the dust cloud, ever approaching.

Grandpa Longneck and Littlefoot waved to Topsy and Clubtail, signalling to begin the induced landslides.

"Okay, now PUSSSSHHHHH!" Topsy roared, as he charged headlong into the heap of rubble before him, heaving with all his might, as Clubtail did the same with his heap, shoving at it with his head and batting any stray fragments with his weighted tail.

Those assembled below retreated as the landslides tore down the mountainsides, a mess of boulders, tree branches, mud and dirt. With a mighty crash, the rubble plummeted to the ground and filled the opening, sealing it for good.

A cheer arose from the dinosaurs as the massive hole in the opening was filled, repelling the stampeding fast-biters and averting further disaster.

But this cheer soon turned into roars and screams of shock as they spotted a creature emerging from the trees.

Redback dragged himself through the fringe of the trees, his limbs heavy from exhaustion, and bleeding profusely. He had won the battle, but not without taking a severe beating himself. Scratched and gashed all over his body, as well as a black eye and a tear in his once magnificent sail, he stumbled into the clearings near the Great Wall. He was on the verge of collapse from sheer fatigue when one voice rang out clear among the roars coming from nearby.

"REDBACK!"

If Topsy had been shocked when he saw this gargantuan monster emerge from the trees, it was nothing compared to his surprise when Littlefoot leapt from his Grandfather's head and galloped towards the sharptooth!

"Littlefoot! NO!" Grandpa Longneck cried, making to follow his grandson. But he stopped in his tracks as Littlefoot reached the sharptooth and embraced him.  
>Redback hugged him back, not caring about the pain wracking his body. He was just relieved to see his friend alive and safe. Tears squeezed from his eyes as he hugged his friend.<p>

"Redback, are you oay? You look pretty badly hurt."" Littlefoot said, breaking away. He hurried to a mud puddle forming nearby, scooping up a glob of mud with his tail. Returning, he took pawfuls of the mud, gently slapping it onto some of the more prominent wounds.

Redback groaned as the cold mud at least soothed the pain, as well as staunching the bleeding a bit. "Aahhh, that's the trick... I'll be fine, Littlefoot. I just need to sit down a moment, I..."

He stopped as he saw the massive forms of the adult dinosaurs approaching. Looking up at them, he gulped nervously.

"Littlefoot...?" Gandpa Longneck said.

Littlefoot left helping Redback and turned to face his grandfather and the other elders.

"... I think an explanation is in order, Littlefoot."

Littlefoot nodded and took a deep breath. But before he could bgin, Redback spoke up:

"Alright, but you may want to get comfortable, sirs. This could take a while."

Topsy stepped back in surprise "What the...? He...He just..."

"Spoke leafeater?" Redback finished, with a small grin "Heh, yeah, I can do that."

Dumbstuck, the Elders obediently sat down, as Littlefoot and Redback began to relate their tale. As they spoke, more dinosaurs began to gather and sit down to listen. Among them were all of the Council Elders, Tria and Tricia, The Swimmer and Flyer families, and all of Littlefoot's friends.  
>Cera, Ducky and Chomper had all regained consciousness and were on the path to recovery. They sat in the front row, close to their parents, with Spike, Petrie and Ruby, listening as Littlefoot and Redback related the tale of their meeting, all he way from that fateful day wen they ran after their ball into the Mysterious Beyond.<p>

The listeners sat, listening with rapt attention, collectively gasping as Redback related the plan of the Blackweed Brotherhood, and his involvement. He told them of he and Littlefoot's struggles against the other members of the Brotherhood, and his eventual triumph when he slew Tero.

"... And I just wanna finish by saying this," Redback ended " From the bottom of my heart, honest to the Bright Circle... I'm sorry. For all the trouble I caused. I never wanted this to happen here. But, it was beyond my control, and I apologise."

The small crowd sat in silence as the story came to an end. Plumes of smoke and steam arose from all about the Valley, as the steady rain slowly put out the raging fires.

Grandpa Longneck finally broke the silence as he stood up "I propose that the Elders and I retire to the Rock Circle to discuss what to do about this. In the meantime, the rest of you should probably tend to your herds and get started on cleaning things up."

A murmur of agreement arose from the assembled dinosaurs as the crowd dispersed, each herd going their own way. The Elders, consisting of Topsy, Littlefoot's Grandparents, Mama Flyer, Mr Clubtail and a handful of other dinosaurs gathered and headed together to the Rock Cicle in the center of the Valley for a meeting.

"You and...uh, Redback, had better come along too, Littlefoot." Grandma Longneck called back.

Littlefoo and Redback sat, listening nervously to the debate from outside the Rock Circle. The longneck waved his tail back and forth distractedly, while Redback twiddled his claws. To him the verdict didn't matter. he already knew what his own decision was. He just wasn't sure how to break it to Littlefoot.  
>Their discussion lasted for several hours before Grandpa Longneck and Mr Threehorn emerged to give their verdict. Littlefoot and Redback stood up.<p>

"Well Redback, we have reached a verdict." the old longneck began "After hearing your story from you and Littlefoot, we have decided this..."

Littlefoot held his breath, anticipating the worst.

"...Despite the reprehensible actions of you and your fellow...er, Blackweed Brothers, most of us have seen that you are indeed remorseful about such actions. Since you are apparently capable of surviving without feeding on others, you would pose little danger to us.  
>And furthermore, we have decided that in light of recent events, due to your aid in...well, saving us, and ridding us of those guilty of these...unforgivable actions, we will be willing to grant you sanctuary and permission to live here, in the Great Valley."<p>

Littlefoot could not believe what he was hearing! Positively jumping for joy, he hugged his grandfather in thanks and then turned to Redback.

"Well, I appreciate your kindness, sirs..." Redback muttered.

"Me too, Grandpa! Thank you, thank you so much!" Littlefoot chirped in, moving to stand by Redback, smiling up at the sharptooth.

"But I'll have to turn ya down."

Littlefoot's face fell "...What?"

Redback knelt down beside the young longneck "I'm sorry, Littlefoot. I can't stay here."

"But why not? Littlefoot asked, the first hints of tears appearing in his eyes.

"Think about it. I might be able to live off greenfood for now, but things'll change when I'm older. I'm almost a grown-up meself... I can't live off greenfood all the time. Us sharpteeth need somethin' more... well, filling.  
>Plus, I got a feeling not everyone would be glad to see somethin' like me living in their home."<p>

Littlefoot bowed his head, tears now welling up in his eyes. "P-please" He muttered sadly "I don't want you to go..."

Redback gently raised the longneck's head with a hand, to look eye to eye with his friend "And I don't wanna go either. But it's what's best for both of us. You saw what happened when I came under the RedWrath, I couldn't control myself! And I can't control when it happens either...I'd never be able to forgive myself if I hurt you or one of your friends."

He wiped a stray tear from his friend's cheek "C'mon buddy... You and me will always be friends... I promise I'll never forget you."

He and Littlefoot shared a gentle hug, as Littlefoot spoke through his tears "Me neither... I'll never f-forget you either..."

Redback tore one of the final stray strands of Blackweed from his head and gently wrapped it around Littlefoot's shoulders "...To remember me by."

He then let go and walked away from the Rock Circle, towards the Great Wall of the Valley. Turning back, he smiled and waved goodbye to Littlefoot, tears streaming openly down his cheeks.

Littlefoot followed behind him at a distance, as he watched Redback stride through the Valley, aching the eyes of every dinosaur he passed, until he reached the Great Wall.

Breathing deeply, the sharptooth began the climb to the top of the Wall, stopping for a moment to gaze over the Great Valley one more time, before he began the climb down the other side.

Littlefoot clambered up the Wall after him, watching from the top as Redback reached the bottom.

Then, with one final glance back at Littlefoot, Redback sighed and headed out, as the rain let up and the clouds parted slowly, revealing a stunning, golden sunset.

Littlefoot watched as the strangest and most amazing sharptooth he had ever met walked off into the wide world. Choking for a moment, he curled up at the top of the Valley Wall, holding the strand of black grass to his heart, and quietly wept to himself, on after the final rays of sunlight finished shining, and the little longneck fell asleep there on the ridge.


End file.
